The Long Night of the Harvest
by Gregg Landsman
Summary: In over his head, past his depth, Shinji Ikari has spent the past five years fighting giant monsters in death battles across the galaxy. Aided by his space turtle adoptive father, the alien tsundere with a shotgun, her mad scientist mother, and his giant robot mom. Story of his life.
1. Chapter 1

Slow breaths, in and out. Viscous fluid fills her lungs, lips parting with ever rattle down her throat. One by one, the lights come on, banishing darkness. The gray and smooth walls of the cavity come to life, slow rotation of the rings around her. The belts of her harness pull against her shoulders, between her breasts, around her hips.

"_We're T-minus two minutes to drop. Starting final activation procedures."_ The familiar voice in her ear, followed by the screen folding out in her eye. "_Time to kick the tires, girlfriend. We've spotted the Twenty Eighth and you've got some ass to kick. Maya?"_

The entire plug hums. She can feel the turbines spinning on her giant's shoulders. Tapping the her fingertips against the butterfly controls, buttons depress to reveal the silhouette of the colossus at her command. "_Turbines at full power. LCL pressure is stable."_ The cheerful voice of one of her handlers. "_Psychograph of pilot is stable. Psychograph of core is stable. We are go for Third Stage."_

"Damn straight we are." She yanks the controls back. Stretching her neck, she rolls her head, looks down, and stamps a red boot on the floor. "Wake up, Mom. We're ready to go."

The headset, built like a pair of cat ears, glows. "_A-10 connectors are charged. LCL ionized. Synchronization in three...two...one!"_

The walls flash, flushing with light. Drawing back into blue, then red, then gold, it washes away the gray to show a blue sky and the harness of a flying wing. "_Metaneural handshake achieved between the Second Child and the Evangelion. Holding strong at 71%."_ She extends her arms, glancing from side to side. Slowly, carefully, she balls her hands into fists. Suspended in the harness of the wing, two massive red and white hands mirror her actions.

She looks down and sees the desert, stretching for hundreds of miles over what was once the southern wastes of a country that no longer exists. Her view is blocked by the raven haired woman with the cocky smile mirroring her own, and the red beret that symbolizes her command. "_Okay. Twenty Eighth Angel has been spotted. You're mission is to kill it."_

"Simple. I like it." She cocks her head, red hair flowing back in the amber liquid. "Anything else?"

Which is when the Angel breaks the surface. Massive, ridges of blood red and gold forming into the spine of the immense creature, it drags entire swaths of the wastes behind it. Rising on massive forelimbs, it glides along with golden light- with the same ease another monster, long ago, carried itself along the water.

But she forces down those memories and watches the monster. Watches the wyrm.

"Shai Hulud, mother_fucker,"_ she breathes. The harnesses release with muted explosions, and the four eyes of Evangelion Unit-02 glow emerald in time with its descent.

* * *

**The Long Night of the Harvest**

* * *

**Breaking** the surface of the former Nile, the creature rises. Parting the four jawed funnel at the center of its bulbous head, the ring of golden eyes around its neck spot the red giant before it lands on its back. The Angel warbles, shrieks, and immediately dives back into the sands.

Reaching into its shoulder pylons, the Evangelion drives the two knives into the scaled and armored flesh, and flattens against the back of the creature. Sand and debris score the armor of the giant, metal irises shuttering the four eyes. Inside the entry plug, Asuka Langley Sohryu grips the handles and laughs, punctuating her joy with sharp insults and questions of the creature's masculinity.

"_Asuka! This thing might be too big for you to handle!"_ Blue eyes narrow and turn to the screen. "_Unit-00 is about to drop."_

"Oh for _fuck's sake!_ No kill-stealing!"

* * *

...

* * *

Explosive bolts release. Clenched gold and white hands open, and the arms and legs spread out into a spread eagle formation. Freed from the flying wing, its red iris focuses, and the cyclopean form of Evangelion Prototype 00 drops to the desert and the sandworm.

The wind screams past it, fifteen thousand tons of armor, flesh, and technology descending to its target. Whether the creature notices- focused on the _spec_ on its back as it is- does not matter. What matters, at least for the pilot, is that it is heading right towards her.

Pale lips quirk, and part with a small smile. Easing back the butterfly control on her right, she narrows red eyes and gives off a soft laugh.

"Seraphic buster, first wing," she says, "Show your little brother some _discipline."_

Orange light flows, forming out of nothingness- flowing from the core deep within the Evangelion, solidifying into a wall of gold sunlight. Shattering, it resets first into a brace around the arm of the Evangelion, then into a gauntlet easily as big as the _rest_ of the giant.

Which it slams directly into the face of the wyrm.

* * *

...

* * *

"Really hoping that's an Angel, because if it isn't then we've got bigger problems." Chewing on her lip, rocking side to side on her heels, Misato Katsuragi watches the fight on the floating screen high above Central Dogma. In front of her, the young woman with short black hair calls out numbers, circuits, technical shit.

On the screen, Unit-00 gives the giant _thing_ another right cross. Unit-02 emerges from the sand, running up the plates of the creature's back with both progressive knives brandished.

"Girls, do you need me to send in the third wheel?"

The faces of both her pilots appear. Rei, as always, wears the visage of faintly annoyed serenity. Asuka, as always, looks ready to either rip someone's throat out with her teeth or claim them as her mate.

"_Pilot Makinami's expertise is not needed."_

"_Keep that psychopath out of an Eva!"_

* * *

...

* * *

Plumes of sand rush past the crimson titan. Each step it takes along the back of the wyrm is punctuated by tectonic shocks and wind cutting like blades. Each inch it gains is through effort and blood and sweat.

"Okay, let's fucking _do this."_ She grins, teeth already tinted read. "Okay, Goddess. I need a road block. You see the core yet?"

Rei's face appears in the corner of her vision. She nods, and a diagram appears floating in front of Asuka. Not of the Evas, but of the Angel, and the red sphere embedded into the back of its spherical head.

"Awesome." Asuka stamps her foot to the ground. "C'mon, Mom! Kick it!"

Four eyes flash emerald and the Evangelion charges up the back of the wyrm like a sprinter. Barely big enough to be considered a bug, barely big enough to be considered a _threat_ to the creature, the giant charges in long strides. In front of the monster, Unit-00 lands, spreads out its arms, and _pushes_ against the air.

And the head of the giant monster slams into a wall of gold. Ripples run along the back, throwing up caked earth, sand, and blue blood. None of it hits Unit-02, which flies through the air with a leap and bursts of flame, its right arm pulled back.

Inside the plug, Asuka snarls, swears, and pulls a trigger.

"_Elbow Rocket: Initialized."_

And two bursts of flame shoot out the back of of the Evangelion's right elbow. It carries the entire giant forward, and fifteen thousand tons of armor and flesh slam into a red crystal sphere at just shy of Mach 5.

The core cracks and shatters, spraying pulverized alien brain over the sands. Then it roars, and erupts into a pillar of gold, throwing both Evangelions off their feet and into the air.

And landing on their backs in a rushing stream of silt-filled crystal water.

* * *

...

* * *

"Terraforming effect has been reversed," Maya Ibuki calls out, over the cheers of the rest of the bridge staff, "Satellite uplinks confirm the Nile River is back where it's supposed to be!"

She kicks off, spinning her chair around and catching Misato's high five.

"Hells _yes,"_ Katsuragi croons, "Good work, girls!"

On the screen, Unit-02 sits up, climbing to its feet and standing in the knee-high river. Asuka's face flashes next to it, lips quirked and arms folded. All the world like the cocky fourteen year old she was when she arrived, not the young woman she is now. "_Naturally. So, any other blues on the radar?"_

Unit-00 wades through waist high water, towards the sea and the refugee-filled boats already on approach. "_Warning satellites are clear of all Pattern Blue Contacts,"_ Rei announces, "_Unit-00, off to assist resettlement."_

Asuka sighs. "_So..."_

"Counted a lot more _fucks_ than I had to," Misato says, "I'll send you a list for the swear jar. Now go help the First."

Asuka rolls her eyes, clicking her tongue and signing off. On the screen, Unit-02 turns and begins following Unit-00. Shaking her head, Subcommander Katsuragi walks out of Central Dogma, hands in the pockets of her beige jacket. She walks down the lit, polished hallway, past the transparent windows of the Evangelion cages. Past the four-legged, olive centaur, past the black, pug faced giant.

Past an empty cage, still empty after five years. Quirking her lip, stopping, she glances out at the cage. The impromptu memorial, for the first one they lost. A sigh, and she taps her closed fist against the glass, nodding, and continues on.

* * *

...

* * *

Glass spires and steel towers tremble. The metropolis of Nal Ullimar has already gone into a full _panic_, even as the thing was spotted hours before. A white giant, flared and massive, six wings of light flowing from its back like ribbons, it began a slow approach towards the city. Ordinance launched from orbiting platforms did _nothing._

Less than _nothing,_ before a single glance of the titan melted them where they lay on the torus ring. The system picket fleet was called in, and entered the atmosphere to bombard it. They lasted five minutes before the White Giant _removed_ them, waving its hand and sending them to the other side of the star system.

It walks on heavy footsteps, the thundercrack of footfalls shaking the steel walkways and stone streets. Even as shuttles rise, even as skycars and frigates carry away those lucky or wealthy enough to ensure their safety, those who remain prepare.

Some hide in bunkers deep beneath the shining city. Some watch, and wait for the end. Or, for _hope._ On the roof top of an apartment building on the outskirts of the city, a family of blue skinned women watch the approaching White Giant. Arms wrapped around each other, determined to face the end together, they wait for its approach.

Or at least, until the smallest of them points to the sky and shouts.

* * *

...

* * *

A massive ship, bulky and ugly and blocky, burns through the atmosphere. Wind screams against the hard angles of its surface. Patches of honeycomb blue light bleed off fire and paint in equal measures.

Jets on the underside fire, and the sheer mass of the dreadnought screams in protest. On the underside, a bay that takes up nearly half of its length opens, doors grinding apart with a shower of sparks and a blast of red flame.

"_Initiating stage one."_

The flame burns in time with the turbine- first red, then blue, then white. As it spins, lights flicker on. First on plates of purple metal which flank the turbine. Then along pylons and a waist of something vaguely humanoid and as tall as the White Giant. Then strips of green flicker and glow steady, running the length of each arm, each leg.

Finally, two eyes, built into the sides of a demonic mask, glow gold. The White Giant witnesses this, and stops its approach to the city. Instead, it turns, and begins a mark towards the approaching dreadnought.

* * *

...

* * *

"_Angel spotted. Looks like a Seed."_ The accented voice rings in his ears. Deep breaths in the LCL and he nods, tightly gripping the butterfly controls. "_We're preparing for drop. Ready, bosh'tet?"_

He nods. Blue eyes open behind the grayed out faceplate. He rolls back his shoulders, sitting up in the chair, feet pressed against the foot pedals. "Ready and waiting. System check?"

The blank gray walls of the entry plug hum. He can feel the presence in the back of his head. Even as the technicians fire off checks in clipped, high pitched voices, he feels them- feels the hum of the engine, the grinding of the armor, the weight of fresh ordinance.

_So what do you say,_ the voice in the back of his soul chimes, _Ready to get into my head?_

"You first, Mom." He smirks. The light on his helmet's mouthpiece glows in time. "Age before beauty."

"_Pilot psychograph; stable. Core psychograph; stable."_ A clipped, high pitched voice, followed by a sudden intake of breath. "_Synchronization in 3...2...start!"_

And he sees his life play before his eyes- not just his life, but a life like his, criss-crossing with his own. He sees _himself_ through older eyes, and he sees another life- her life- from both her own perspective and _his_ as a _child._ Beholding her first like a _titan, _then like a _human._

_ He sees five years. Waking up along and afraid. The first hands given in friendship._

_ First rejections. Suspicion and fear._

_ Pain. Anger. Red eyes opening in darkness._

_ "Give. Her. _**_Back."_**

There is a lull. A brief emptiness, his mind meeting the other.

Synchronization.

The control system of the Evangelions, developed by Project E.

Two souls merging together through memories and emotions to control the body of a god machine.

The deeper the bond, the better you _fight._

The walls turn prismatic and then shatter. The form around him, the _frame_ around him, shudders in time with his rolling shoulders. "_Synchronization holding at 73%,"_ another clipped voice announces, "_Activating the Evangelion."_

* * *

...

* * *

Massive purple hands clench into fists. Explosive bolts release, and the giant drops out of the bay, burning through the air and towards the surface. The White Giant strides towards it- the dreadnought having escaped into the clouds. The god on the surface extends a hand towards the violet and emerald giant descending from on high, and releases a lance of burning white.

And the blast hits nothing. The Evangelion disappears in a burst of blue flame and white lightning, and a sphere of pure _force_ slams into the Giant and drives both it and the Evangelion into the ground.

* * *

...

* * *

The screen shimmers in front of them, showing the Eva hopping backwards out of the crater- buoyed by jump jets in its legs and chest and the aura of shimmering blue around it. It weaves around the Giant- the ADAM, as it was explained to them- and _flows_ around it to grab it in a headlock.

Red eyes narrow. Scaled lips pull down in a grimace. Then the Eva pulls a fist back and repeatedly drives its knuckles into the giant's back. Where the _kidneys_ would be on most bipeds.

"There we go," he chortles, lips pulling into a smile, "Kidney punch! Kidney punch! And pause..." Everyone around him groans. He laughs. "Elbow to the skull! Just like I taught you!"

Fists on his hips, the turtle-like alien grins from ear to ear, side-set eyes watching the melee from on high. "Okay!" Urdnot Wrex barks, "If what we know's right, this is like the thing on Klendathu, and I don't want another Klendathu. That means it's control stick's somewhere nearby!"

_"Already found it!"_ Wrex turns to the second image appearing over the holographic map of the planet, and the helmeted girl that has commandeered their attention, "_Shinji! Lance incoming!"_

* * *

...

* * *

An arm thrusts out, white fire shaping it into a lance. It drives towards the anathema's heart, but reflects off a wall of ringing gold. Light gathers around the extended finger of the Seed-Core, and blazes out into cleansing fire. To burn soul, flesh, and machine.

Unit-01 simply flashes cerulean and appears next to the ADAM, cracking knuckles before driving her fist into the side of the White Giant's face.

The ADAM stumbles back, white phosphorous prints in the crater outside the city limits. Striding through the smoke, the pulverized rock, the debris- the Evangelion closes the distance with speed belaying its bulk. It swings its left fist into the White Giant's gut and there is the sound of snapping bone, grinding stone.

Grabbing one of the wings and yanking back, the Evangelion brings the Seed's head up just in time for another punch to the face. Bringing its arm back, the Eva's eyes glow blue. Inside the plug, the pilot grinds his teeth.

"_Impact Lance!"_ he yells.

Green lights run the length of the forearm. A blossom of vermillion folds out from the back of the Evangelion's elbow, and erupts into a lance of golden white. Driving her fist into the White Giant's head, the light warps, shudders, and erupts from the Eva's fist.

The skull of the Angel shatters, a lance of violet and emerald blasting it clean off. A frigate flies overhead, and in time with its passing a bone white, double headed spear drives into the ground next to the crater.

The Angel twitches, its head already reforming. Wings of flame extend from the crater, angry red lines spiderwebbing out. _Perhaps,_ the voice says in the back of his soul, _You should have gotten the lance _**_before_**_ you wounded the Seed enough to initiate an Impact?_

"Not helping, Mom!"

Yanking the spear from the ground, the weapon twice the height of the Evangelion, Unit-01 brings its foot down on the White Giant's crotch. Both hands wrapped around the lance, the Eva brings it up. The heads rotate, going from parallel to a noon-and-seven o'clock formation.

_Right! Configuration set! Would you kindly save this world?_

The lance drives into the Core of the Seed. White fire and red flame erupt from the crater, consuming both physical god and man-made god. It becomes a pillar stabbing into the sky, blasting past the orbiting dreadnought and the returning picket fleet. It becomes eight wings extending to the stars themselves.

And then collapses back into itself, leaving a crater outside an undamaged city, and the Evangelion standing over the inert Seed.

"_This is Unit-01."_ A thundering footstep and it exits the crater. "_Angel neutralized."_

And the dreadnought, ships, and city erupt into cheers.

* * *

_..._

* * *

_Accessing: Makinami, M_

_ Password: allthefistings_

_ Access Granted_

_ Accessing: Personal Logs._

_ Evangelion Unit-02:_

_ Pilot: Sohryu, Asuka Langley_

_ Height: 62 meters, 34 centimeters._

_ Weight: 15,734 tons._

_ Clocked Top Running Speed: 922 mph_

**_Special Attack: Elbow Rocket_**

_ Katsuragi: Is Mari editing the data files on her MAGI backup to give the Evas special attacks again?_

_ Ibuki: Yep. There's something magical about that mindset. Probably comes from her being recruited after the clusterfuck with the Twelfth Angel._

_ Katsuragi: I'm starting to suspect the thing in Gogoki's core is her self-restraint._

_ Ikari: Impossible. If it was, she would have restraint when piloting and wouldn't shout out her attacks at the top of her lungs._

_ Ibuki: He has a point. Mari's still trying to get rocket boosters attached to Gogoki's drill arm._

_ /Katsuragi sighs._

_ Katsuragi: I'm going to find the people who made that anime. I'm going to stick them in an Eva's core. And then I'm going to launch that Eva into the Sun._

_ Ikari: You have learned well, my student._

_ Ibuki: Is this like that thing you did, where you kept giving me hints that you were my father? Are you going to start doing that with Katsuragi, now?_

_ /Ikari has left the chat._

_ Katsuragi: Shifty bastard._

* * *

...

* * *

The rings of black metal rotate around a sun, three perfectly sculpted circles around a pulsing sphere of white fire. Despite the light, there is no heat. Despite the brightness, it does not breach the red metal surrounding it- a containment system, refined over five years, to hold back the infinite power at its fingertips.

In the Cage, the standard army of technicians perform their maintenance- the spot welds on containment, the dents hammered out by pressure hammers. Circuitry checked by men and women in suspended hazmat suits, joints and frames spot checked, spot welded.

Overseeing it all, she stands on the highest catwalk above the crimson titan's crowned head.

Arms folded under her chest, the beige jacket is tied around her waist like a hipskirt, flanking the black, red piped legs of the plugsuit. The red, solid shoulders and chestpiece still bead with golden red liquid, and the blue indicator between her breasts glows strongly.

Lips pulled back into a smirk, she meets the four green eyes of her Titan with her own crystal blue orbs. Two white protrusions peak atop her mane of strawberry blonde hair, still humming with blue.

"Hey! Asuka!" She breaks her staring contest with Unit-02, and braces a hand on the railing behind her. A single, smooth motion, and the mounts the railing, standing on it with the glow of the S2 engine backlighting her.

Several levels down, waving her beret, Misato taps her foot. "Get down from there and come on! The Commander wants to see us!"

Asuka Langley Sohryu sniffs imperiously. This, naturally, catches all of no one by surprise, even when she dismounts from the catwalk with the practiced grace of an olympic gymnast. Hopping from railing to railing, she descends one level, then another. Each hop punctuated by ringing bells and faint chimes.

Kicking off a final railings, she leaps towards the bridge stretched over the amber coolant river at Misato's feet. But rather than running across the bridge, she stabs her feet into the air and runs across the wall of golden light that appears next to her.

The sunlight wall underneath Asuka's feet disappear, in time with her red boots hitting metal floor. There is the sound of ringing bells, and the chest piece closes over the S2 engine and Unit-02's core.

Misato rolls her eyes. "The Evangelion is not a toy." There is little conviction behind those words. Five years and there is acceptance. "C'mon. Commander's waiting." She hands over a towel and cuffs Asuka on the shoulder. Letting the pilot drape the cloth over her shoulders, Misato pulls her into a one armed hug, and the two women walk out of the Cage with a well-earned laugh.

* * *

...

* * *

The size of a small moon, it hangs in the void. Ancient, unknowable, indestructible and _irreplaceable._ Stone a deep, cerulean blue warped into prongs that seem to go on forever. Obsidian rings spin around a blue star, built at the center of an arcane, curved superstructure.

There is a flash of lightning. Time, space becoming mere suggestions, and the void releases a shape. Long and blocky, it is shaped less like a great dagger, more like a bludgeon. Hard edges taper off at the front into two rounded extensions like blunted blades. Wings fold out along its length, eight in all, like a megascale insect.

Dozens of engines flare along its spine, leading to four massive bursts of blue light at its aft. Bathed in the light of the Mass Relay, the dreadnought waits. Dozens of smaller ships- frigates, pickets, shuttles- burst into existence around it, like fledglings following a mother bird.

The dreadnought and its escorts accelerate towards the garden world well out of visual range. As they do, the light catches the side of the massive ship, and illuminates the two dozen monster silhouettes painted on its side.

* * *

...

* * *

The green circle disappears in time with her hand swiping through it. A burst of stale, cycled air and the door parts- two parts into the floor, one part into the ceiling. Two toed feet, clad in black boots coming up the curve of her knees, clap in time with her swaying walk.

The gray, red trimmed hip skirt slides along her hips, three fingered hands alternating between loose balled fists and fidgeting fingers. Eyes glance beneath the vermillion glass covering her face, eyeing the projectors on the ceiling, the lights on the floor.

Orange screens hover, one against the full wall window, one on the spartan metal desk propped against the wall. One hovering over him, his omnitool still lit and manifest on his left arm. His other hand is sprawled against the white sheets, his mouth open and snoring.

The blue and black plugsuit still beads with LCL- some of which leaked onto the sheets- and his head has managed to stick to a pillow. Black hair slick and sticky, the young man slumbers in both exhaustion and satisfaction. And, she notes with a faint smile, a good amount of _hormones,_ if what she's seeing is right.

"_Oh my. Lia, have you come to molest my son when he's sleeping?"_ Lia squeaks, turns, and steps back when she comes face to face with the blue sphere. "_At very least, you could have had the courtesy of telling me first. I could have offered tips."_

Lia'Nelzi vas Death Star squeaks, takes a quick step back, and promptly trips on a lazily discarded thermos that she will lecture Shinji about at length. After she falls on him, of course. Shinji Ikari yelps, opens his eyes, and finds the quarian girl sitting on his lap. He looks down, goes completely still.

She looks down, eyes two glowing circles behind the facemask. She wiggles her hips, hands up and arms folded under her chest.

Rolling her shoulders back, she shuffles to the side, ignoring the pained squeaks and grunts from the young man underneath him. "_Oh, goooood,"_ the sphere purrs, "_Let me call Doctor Solus. He and I have been __**brainstorming**__ on some possible workarounds for the biochemical barrier."_

"Mom," Shinji yelps, "It's not like that."

"It really isn't," Lia adds, and turns to Shinji, "It _better_ not be like that." She turns back to the sphere. "It's not like that! He's just a _slob_ and I tripped. It's not like that!" She cocks her head imperiously, the light at the base of her helmet glowing in time with her tongue click.

The blue sphere produces a red line, crossing its equator. "_Yui cares not from whence the grandbabies flow._" The line narrows. "_Only that there __**are**__ grandbabies."_

The light on the end of Lia's mouthpiece glows with the sound of her sucking teeth. Shinji blanches, reaches over, and places his hands on Lia's waist. He lifts her up, mouthing an apology, and pulls himself out from under her. "Mom, that was _creepy._ Even for _you."_

The red line rotates. "_And that's __**adorable**__ that you deny it. Because remember, when you pilot, I get to see in your head."_ Shinji clenches his eyes shut, holding up a finger. Lia turns to the sphere, two narrow slits where her eyes should be. "_Oh, come now, Lia. If I tell you Shinji's fantasies, it won't be a surprise when you do them in real life."_

With that, the sphere floats up into the ceiling and disappears. Shinji lets go a long held breath, sitting up. He turns, opens his mouth, and closes it under Lia's glare. "Fantasies," she says. Not a question, not an exclamation, just a statement.

"You caught me," he deadpans, "I can't contain my burning lust to ravish you while my mother brainstorms how to create human alien hybrids."

The mouthpiece glows. It glows steadily, glowing eyes blinking. Then she gently shoves him onto his back, swings her leg over his waist, and straddles him. "Really, now?"

He rolls his eyes. "Weren't you _offended_ by that?" He props himself up on his elbows. "I mean, aren't you _supposed_ to be offended by that?"

A faint giggle and she folds her arms, shifting back and sitting on his knees. "I don't know. Fact that you're a slob offends me more than you looking at my chest like a teenage shut-in."

"In all honesty, I tend to pay more attention to your hips."

A scoff and a cock of her head. "You and every turian I've ever met." She gently presses her hand against his chest and climbs off of him and the bed. Walking to the window, hands folded behind her, she _sashays, _adding an all-too deliberate sway to her strut. She grins at the stars and knows he's watching her the entire way.

"So where _are_ we going?" He climbs off the cot, the blue lightning permeating the view giving way to unaltered, undistorted space. "Admittedly, I was wiped from Leesia, so I didn't exactly _ask."_ He rubs the back of his head, pulling off the pillow stuck to his hair. Kicking aside the thermos, he pads across the cramped, spartan, and messy room.

His answer comes in the form of a screen opening in front of him, and the face of Urdnot Wrex. "_Great, you're still dressed. Doctor, did I interrupt anything?"_

Another screen opens. The aged, orange and white skinned Salarian with a single cranial horn shakes his head. Disappointment is..._evident..._in his voice. "_No. Hormonal levels nominal but not denoting arousal levels past standard interaction."_

Wrex grunts. "_Fine. If we interrupted anything, I'll give you two time for heavy petting. If not, get your asses to the command deck. Time I keyed you both in on where we are and why we're here."_

Both screens close. The two youths stare at the screens, where they were. Then Lia shakes her head and silently shuffles out. With Shinji happily following two steps behind.

* * *

...

* * *

Lights flood the dome at the heart of the dreadnought, a map of the galaxy zooming into a single world. Color floods it the hologram, and it becomes blue, green, and white. From a distance, it looks familiar. Like a home he hasn't seen in five years. A part of Shinji's heart aches, but he pushes it down. _This_ is his home.

It's a better home than he ever had on Earth.

The second floor of the command center has come alive with the sounds of orders, commands, data. All translated through the orange construct on his left arm. He walks alongside Lia, past the banks of computers, past the floating, wall-sized maps. Over to the projector at the center, where Wrex is waiting, alongside Doctor Solus and a blue-skinned woman with swept back tentacles on her head.

"Good, you're here," Wrex rumbles, and turns to the woman, "Tevos?"

Ambassador Tevos nods, tapping the console in front of her with one fluid motion. The black, white lined jumpsuit creaks slightly in that way only a hormonal teenager notices, and Shinji is once more reminded of why the Asari control the galaxy.

"This planet is...contested," she explains, holograms of the planet switching to emblems of other races, other governments, "The Batarian Hegemony has laid claim. The Asari have, as well. There is historical evidence of a Krogan claim, and signs of Migrant Fleet historical activity."

"Considering it's a levo-based world, wasn't smart," Lia observes. She shrugs, arms folded in response to Tevos' glare. Lia cocks her head, and Tevos continues.

"Yes," the ambassador continues, folding her hands behind her and circling the console, "However, an Asari dispatch expedition from Thessia has uncovered a find. A beacon." She taps the console again. The holograms fold into a monolith, smooth and tall, with green lights running along it. "Of Prothean origin."

Lia blinks. Wrex grunts. Mordin cocks a hairless brow. "Protheans," Shinji repeats, "They were the ones who created the Mass Relays, right?"

He shuffles to the side, a pink jellyfish swimming through the air past him. Tevos nods, and turns to the salarian for clarification.

"Theoretically," Mordin states, "Disappeared, fifty thousand years ago. Status on expedition." A swift, sharp intake of breath. "Unknown."

"But last transmission was about something big and ugly heading their way." Wrex grunts. "Shinji, go get in your mother. Lia, you're with me, Mordin, and Reegar. Let's go kill us an Angel."

The quarian girl tilts her head. Shinji rubs the back of his neck. "Get in my mother. That's...ah...that's kind of blatant, Wrex," he observes.

"Even for you," Lia adds.

Wrex shrugs. As if summoned by the understones of incest and maternal issues, the familiar blue sphere appears next to the ancient krogan. "_No, no,"_ it says in the dulcet tones of Yui Ikari, "_Wrex is just being honest. It's no different than what everyone thought after they found that Unit-01 was piloted by a long phallic tube filled with the menstrual blood of an alien god machine possessed by the soul of Shinji's insane mother."_

Mordin coughs, tapping on his omnitool. Shinji buries his face in his hands with a weak sob.

"_So, let's stop bickering,"_ she chirps, "_And get my son __**inside me."**_

* * *

...

* * *

Atmosphere hits the smooth edges of the dreadnought, red flame reflecting off its kinetic barriers. Banking the hard, bladed nose upwards, the main cargo bay grinds open. Arms held aloft, legs pinned together, the eyes of the Evangelion glow white in time with its activation.

Squat and long, shuttles speed past the dreadnought. Passing by the open cargo bay, past the smooth edges, they become blue dots receding into the distance and towards the Relay. Like expanding debris, the ships escape, one at a time, then two, then three at a time. All sending out messages of panicked distress.

Until a flash of red light, a beam of crimson, blasts a shuttle as it clears the atmosphere.

Inside the entry plug, Shinji stares at the debris cloud, eyes wide. "Wrex?"

"_Still not getting a blue pattern, kid. But damned if that doesn't look like an Angel."_ On the floating screen, Wrex grimaces and turns to something out of Shinji's field of view. "_I said hurry up!"_ Turning back to Shinji, he nods. "_We're dropping you at the source of that blast. I'm already in the shuttle, and we'll meet you at the dig site."_

And the screen closes. Taking a deep breath, Shinji feels the Evangelion _tense_ beneath him. Reaching out, he taps a floating screen and lets a single line become an arc. The words _CiC_ flash on the screen. "This is Unit-01," he says, "Release for drop."

A flash, followed by slowly expanding rings from the restraints, and the Evangelion drifts from the open cargo bay. Bursts of blue fire along its spine and arms push it towards the unnamed world. It hits the atmosphere with a flash of its barriers, slowly twisting into a head-first nose dive.

Past the escaping shuttles, past the fleeing frigates. Shinji hears _something,_ a voice that grinds into the back of his _soul,_ and reacts by instinct. He throws up his hands. Mirroring his actions, the Eva does the same, and a red blast deflects off the golden wall between the Eva, the shuttles, and the ground below.

Again, he hears the _sound._ Some pulling, breaking _thing_ that makes him grind his teeth and close his eyes. Turning, spinning through the sky, the Evangelion descends streaking fire and clouds. Twisting, thrusting its feet down, the lines of its armor glow emerald.

And the Evangelion impacts with the sound of thunder and an explosion of loose dirt.

"Unit-01 has landed," Shinji states, "Engaging the..."

He blinks. The Evangelion stands, the air around it flashing violet and blasting away the dust. In the distance, Shinji watches a _mountain_ shift and begin _moving_ towards him.

"...angel?"

Great, three toed feet tear up blasted and burnt soil. Four massive, _metal_ legs carry the oversized, swept-back body along. Dust and flickering rays of sunlight reflect off the shell of black and gunmetal.

Hanging underneath it, tentacles like a squid flicker and twitch. Above them, a set of eight eyes set into a curved line focus on Unit-01. Focus on Shinji.

It is, he figures, at _least_ as big as the Evangelion. It is, according to the voice of his mother, a _damn sexy_ feat of engineering.

The four legged giant cares not for their thoughts. Instead, it marches towards them, crushing low lying hills and charred bodies in its wake. The dust and ash clouds slide across its hull, not sticking. As if they are afraid of it, almost as much as Shinji, who fights down the chill in his gut.

A high pitched whine from the massive, alien _thing,_ and it lets loose a bass roar. It shakes the chair Shinji sits in, makes his teeth ache. "Alright," he whispers, "Command! I am _engaging the Angel."_

And with a muffled roar of its own, Unit-01 charges at the advancing mountain.

* * *

...

* * *

There is a shriek. She turns in mid run, jerking forward and almost falling, but stops herself with her hands. Scrambling on all fours, she ducks into the open doors, and curses when they don't close. Of course they don't close, she tells herself, they, it, _them_ cut the power when they attacked.

It started with an unknown contact coming out of the Relay. Then the _rain_ started. Silver rain, high from orbit. Whoever was hit by it...changed. First in behavior. Becoming unresponsive. Becoming cold- to the touch, both physical and mental.

Then they began to change. Metamorphosize. Blue skin became reflective and black. Eyes once vibrant and filled with life became empty and dead. By the time the picket ships found the satellite, half the colony were infected. They began _feeding_ on the other half.

She's been running since. Running through the hard domes of the residences, through the open corridors of the fabrication hall. Hiding, running, praying.

Looking past the counter of the reception desk she's hidden behind, she watches with wide blue eyes the same color as her skin. She watches the lurching figure- the figures, because she's realized that there are _three_ of them- advancing. Towards her.

Glancing side to side, up and down, she looks for an exit from the metal cubicle. Finds none. "Oh goddess," she whispers, "Oh goddess oh goddess oh goddess-"

And then one of the creatures drops with a thunder crack, its head _gone._ Then another _boom_ that makes her squeak and whimper, then a third. In three seconds, the three creatures have dropped, unmoving and still.

Then the roof panel of the cubicle opens, and her savior drops down. At first glance, the shape of the feet, the curves and lines of its legs and waist make her believe it is a quarian- she heard rumors that the Eva was en route after all.

But when she peaks her head up to thank her savior, she comes face to face with a single eye on the elongated head of the black skinned synthetic standing in front of her. Its eye shifts, and four petals extend from its head.

"_Come with me if you want to live."_

The asari girl continues staring at the artificial man in front of her, and manages a short, squeaky, "'Kay." And she takes the synthetic man's proffered hand.

* * *

...

* * *

The red beam cuts through the ground, through low buildings, and reflects off a golden wall that chimes with ringing bells. Hands extended, the strips along its limbs glowing green, Unit-01 takes a step forward and disappears. The blast burns the air, sheering a mountain in the distance. Then goes wild when the Eva appears behind it and drives a fist into its side.

A bass roar and the metal giant shifts. Vents open at its sides and points of light appear on the surface of the Evangelion's armor. Shinji's swear echoes through the speakers built into Unit-01's neck, and the resulting explosions shear armor and shove the Eva back.

Deep within, past the physical, she watches this with half-hearted interest.

Her son will reign victorious. He always does. As much credit is given to her for the rampages and the sheer power she commands, her interventions are few and far between. Sitting within a world of thought suspended in the interlocking complex of her own design, a young woman opens her eyes with a wry smile.

She determined within seconds of encountering this machine that it was just that- a machine, puppeted by something else. To the outside world, it was seconds. To her, much longer. The world around her shifts, interlaced crystal becoming a clear green field.

The tree once more appears behind her, shading her. A shadow that is the professor as she views him stands next to her. Rising, dusting off calf-cut khakis and straightening her labcoat, she walks across the placid lake and towards the light.

While the machine was but a toy, she _did_ want to see what was _controlling_ it. Yui Ikari smiles and reaches out, in hand and thought, without hesitation.

The thought races across space, a network of alien intelligence _opening_ itself up and _welcoming_ her. She smiles. Such naiveté. Such confidence.

"So," she says, "What _are_ you?"

The answer comes first as silence. A darkening of the sky above. Stepping back on the water, ripples radiating from her feet, she looks up.

It speaks in thunder, and with the authority of a god looking down on high.

**Through union of He who was I AM and She who was I BECOME were we formed.**

** Through Cycle and Perfection were we made.**

** We are the realization of the Engineers.**

** We are the Children of Leviathan.**

** We are the Vanguard.**

** We are the Perfect Sovereign.**

** We are Nazara.**

And for a brief moment, Yui Ikari thinks to herself that she may be _too curious for her own good._

* * *

_..._

* * *

_"We apologize for misstating our intentions. We do not wish violence towards organics, and chose poorly when deciding on introductory dialogue." _The asari girl continues screaming, arms locked around its neck, legs wrapped around its waist and carries along its back. A jerk to the side and they dodge a falling bit of _roof,_ a sudden stop and the metal giant's foot comes down in front of them.

A bass roar and the four legged _thing_ advances towards its enemy, towards the purple titan charging at it.

The girl stop screaming, watching with wide eyes. Watching the vermillion giant grapple with the monster, pushing it back, grinding feet against the ground to push it away from the settlement. "It's the Eva!" she shouts, "They sent it!"

The petals extend along the flashlight. They flatten, and the synthetic continues running, underneath the four legged giant and towards prospective safety. "_Noting Evangelion combat effectiveness."_ They run, shifting side to side to avoid falling debris and stepping giants. "_Uploading analysis to Consensus. Modifying Angelic Combat Platforms."_

* * *

...

* * *

A grunt. Thought becomes action and the Eva digs its heels, grappling a metal giant twice its size, and all Shinji thinks is _this is not the biggest thing I've fought I am not scared I am not running away._ For the bravery, for the accomplishments, there is still a kid out of his depth.

But he doesn't hide it. He doesn't hold it back. He lives with it, his fear giving him strength.

Grinding teeth, he feels the heat of the blast from the thing's _mouth._ But he can't help but feel that despite its size, despite its strength, this isn't an _angel._

Green strips glow and fill the air with viridian, forming an orange wall between the Eva and the rampaging beast. "Mom! Sitting duck! Get us behind it!" No response. No responses at all for the past several minutes.

A low sigh and exhaled breath. Abandoned by his mother, left in situations completely beyond his depth, and at the mercy of the universe. Story of his life.

"EDI. Boot up!"

The transparent walls of the entry plug dim red. Lights paint him, screens forming and hovering in a circle around him and closing around his head. The butterfly controls unlock with a faint hiss of steam and come loose, the chair shifting forward to allow him freedom of movement.

"_Enhanced Defense Intelligence online, Shinji. Biotics offline."_ A faint blue light forms into a sphere with a green line running vertically. "_Checking databases. This doesn't match any known angelic profiles."_

"Nope." Shinji taps the buttons on the inside of the right control. There is a loud click, and he brings up his arm. At his right, the Evangelion's arm comes up, the brace of its expanded right forearm flashing before blasting the four legged egg-thing in the face.

Green lines along the limbs of the Evangelion darken and turn red. Another blast to its face blasts off two of the eyes, and the metal giant stumbles back. Back, past the ruined walls of the encampment, past the ruins of its attack, past the landing shuttles. It blasts the Evangelion's left arm when it comes for another blow, sheering off armor, burning flesh.

Shinji bites his lip works through the pain.

The shoulder pylons of the Eva open up and blast the giant in the eyes with flack, followed by a kick to the face that lifts it off its front two feet.

Which gives the Evangelion just the opening it needs to drive its right fist into the giant's firing chamber.

The red light surrounds it, fusing the armor of the gauntlet, making Shinji feel like he shoved his hand into _fire._ But the eyes around the weapon dim, and the giant drops back, twitching its legs like an overturned turtle.

"This is Unit-01," Shinji breathes, "What...ever it was, neutralized."

* * *

...

* * *

She embraces the unity and singularity at the center of the Mind. When one looks into the abyss, does the abyss look into you. She has long since done so; long since stared into the center of the horror and insanity deep within and she has shown it neither fear nor quarter. Even the blood-bleaching of her world, the red light pouring forth, does not deter her.

For she is Yui Ikari. She is the Mother and Testament. Letting her physical imagery fall away, she becomes Thought and Purpose. Riding along the rails of the NazaraMind.

Even still, she is Human. Her mind processes these thoughts that she views in human terms. Human images. She watches the beginning, unfurling from zero point. Of a great light on a nameless world.

Standing amidst billions of entities, billions of being she sees as human-but-knows-are-not, she watches as the light rises into a column. Observes something- like them, but greater, _godlike_, rise and catch them in rapture.

But she does not pray. She does not embrace the song that washes over the endless race she views the memories of. For she will not listen. For she will _sing._

"You're testaments," she says, "But something else. Not sure what."

Tapping her lip, she reaches out- with thought and will, into the hidden blood-colored crevices of this post-being's memory. Confirming theory, confirming thought, she presses her light against its. Watches the the names lining up, and taps a single familiar one.

_ .SOL START_

_ HYBERNATION END_

_ RELAY ACTIVATE SEQUENCE_

"Time to go home," she says with a smile.

And then the blood red light vanishes.

And then the sun rises, bleaching the unity in its light. Yui Ikari once more curses her curiosity and sense of self, for she recognizes that once more, she has stepped in it. Stepped in it deep.

It stands before the god-entity and her like God on High. Around her does the red recede, leaving her naked in front of it. Leaving her alone in front of it. It does not stride, it does not advance, for it is too vast to need to.

"Well," she says, "You're big. Est." That human part of her allow herself to be impressed. "What are you?"

* * *

...

* * *

The red eyes of the Destroyer flash open, and with speed belaying its size it is upright once more. Crimson lightning playing over its hull, it speaks in clicks and tones, and leaps upon Unit-01 to wrap its legs around the Evangelion's torso.

"**This vessel is now mine,"** a voice booms, bass and resembling nails upon glass, "**Retrieve the Evangelion."**

Blue lightning flashes over the pair, wrapping them in a cocoon of cerulean, and the metal beast shoots off into the sky, the Evangelion in its death grip.

* * *

...

* * *

Even through the thick fluid of the entry plug, Shinji finds himself slammed into the acceleration couch. Gel and smart materials cushion his back and head in a manner akin to a soft bed or a friendly hanar. Still, it knocks the wind out of him and makes his vision blur.

"EDI! The hell was that?!"

The blue sphere appears next to him. The transparent walls of the entry plug fill with blue lightning and burning atmosphere. "_It appears that the entity is attempting to abduct us. I am still unable to rouse Doctor Ikari. Additionally, atmospheric temperature is rising."_ The line along the ball's hemisphere turns green, then purple. "_Hypothetically, it may be attempting an FTL jump."_

Shinji swears, loud and at length. Fingers tap against the controls, feet pressing against petals in the floor of his seat.

Jets fire on the right shoulder of the Evangelion and on its right hips, spinning it in the death grip of the metal invader. The armor of Unit-01 grinds against the alien thing, sending hot red sparks flying off, running angry orange gouges along the chest and face of the Eva.

Until the entry plug fills not with atmosphere, but the maw of the thing, the giant, with eight eyes glowing crimson and staring directly at Shinji.

"_We are running low on options, Shinji,"_ EDI states. Ever calmly, ever factual. Shinji, on the other hand, quickly seizes the sole option remaining.

An orange screen lights up, and the side of his fist slams against it. It folds out into a symbol- like a cross, inverted. Or, more particular, like a-

"_Sword: Deploying."_

Bolts explode along the left arm of the Evangelion. From the loosened armor and exposed skin, metal plates flail out- flowing out one by one, held together by wires almost invisibly small against the limb of the Evangelion.

One by one, dozens in total, they whip out, curring into the restraining leg of the Destroyer, before cutting enough room for the Evangelion to throw out its arm- and the plates snap together into a forearm mounted longsword. Red lights run along the edges of the blade. A faint hum signals the startup of an _engine_ inside them.

"We're getting off here," Shinji breathes.

And the Evangelion swings. The blade drives through metal and circuity, staining itself with yellow and gold ichor that flows from the giant. There is a bass roar, a bass horn that becomes higher and higher pitch with every inch, every yard that the blade cuts in-

Before the scream cuts out completely. Coincidentally, the blade comes out the other end, and part of the giant continues skyward. The other half begins it's slow descent towards the world below, before both are consumed by an angry red flame.

And Unit-01 drops, like a sixty-meter tall stone, towards the world below.

* * *

...

* * *

The light from the swinging lamp illuminates the table, casting faint prismatic hues from the cups and the strong liquor contained within. The bar is filled with its usual noise- the thrum of music, shouts and calls, occasional drinking contests and muted fights. The three women at the table ignore that, however, bringing up their glasses and clinking them.

"Five years to the day," Misato sighs, "If we got'em back, I was gonna wring that little bastard's neck. What about you?"

"Hug him," Rei says, and turns to the redhead, "You?"

Asuka says nothing, then moves her free hand side to side. Rei stares at her, Misato chokes on her drink. "Blatant," Rei states, "Especially for you."

The redhead shrugs, still sipping her drink. "Yeah, well." She sighs, leaning back, her NERV uniform blazer wrinkled around her. "I was fourteen. I mean, I _kissed_ him, chances are I'd be doing more stuff with him if he made it out of there."

Rei cocks an eyebrow. Misato continues choking. During all this, Asuka Langley Sohryu watches. Her lips quirk and warble, and she looks down on the oversized beer mug and the amber brew within. Folding her arms, leaning back, she muses on it while Rei takes the opportunity to tease Misato, and Misato gives just as hard as she gets. The redhead thinks back to five years ago, that turning point, when the black angel arrived following Ikari's passing and the incident with Unit-03.

"-no, explain to me slowly, Ritz!" Asuka looks up. Phone out, eyes narrowed, Misato attempts to murder the commander of NERV through a cellular signal. "What it is and how it's so _awesomely powerful and horrifying _that _deploying Mari alone is the better option."_

* * *

...

* * *

Light floods the entry plug. A predatory grin crosses the thin features of the young woman in the hot pink bodysuit. Glasses reflect off the illumination of the oversized lamps, pouring through the transparent walls. "_Eighth Child is recognized. Metaneural handshake holding at 59%."_ Her grin only goes wider, wilder.

Sitting up, the twin tails of dark chocolate hair bob and wave in the blood-flavored liquid. Around her, twin pylons of green, gold lined metal hum with built in turbines. The low creak of superscalar muscle and sinew snaps her reality into focus. "Evangelion activated," Mari Illustrious Makinami announces, "Ready, Central Dogma."

A screen folds out to a woman with blonde hair and half-framed glasses. "_This is Commander Akagi. An Angel is on approach to Tokyo-3. It has been designated the Twenty Ninth Angel. Your mission is to keep it from reaching the Geofront by any means necessary."_

She nods. "Copy."

The secondary engines hum. Rings built around the entry plug turn, grinding against metal and making the LCL _churn_ almost as hard as she is. "Okay, Gogoki," she _purrs,_ "You ready to do this?"

In front of her, the steampunk accented monitor beeps an affirmative. Red hexagons float around the walls, telling her she will be as gods. And across the spinach and gunmetal screen, the thoughts of whatever dwells in Unit-05's core speaks to its pilot as it always does in a slow digital scrawl;

'**CAST IN THE NAME OF GOD- YE NOT GUILTY'**

"_Eva launch!"_

* * *

...

* * *

The walls of the fortress city rise, pillars of steel and concrete that girdle skyscrapers and towers. At first glance, this would be the same city. It would be Tokyo-3, the fortress city of the Evangelions. Stone, both man made and weather gifted, gird it like armor. Towers of glass shimmer like crystal. The horns of alarm rush through it like water bursting a dam.

But this is a city. And like any city, there is a government. There are leaders. Deep within, at the base of the tallest spire, there is the seat of government. But it is not offices, it is not the courts and seats of power of the fortress city.

At the center of this tower, there is the First. The Pale and Silent King. A corpse lord, silent and still and timeless, sitting on a throne of crystal built from the bones of his fellows. Upon his right hand, a golden figure listens to the wisps of red. They speak to him of great discoveries. He stands above them, around them. Occupying all around them despite remaining a single, featureless figure of sunlight.

"**She recreates the works of the Celestial Architects."** The voice is a booming horn, speaking like thunder on high. Before the silent lord, he raises a hand. The endless, infinite wisps stand at attention, a sea of red light before their elder.

"**Awaken the vanguard. Find Ikari."**

And aboard a pillar of rock and metal orbiting a dead star, four golden eyes open. The insectoid creature chirps, tilting its flat and elongated head, and speaks first with its own voice and then with the voice of a dreaming god. "**And bring Ikari to us."**

_Startupsequence_

_ JadedGatemakerofAges_

_ FocusedExpedientSeeker_

_ RadiantHunterofGods_

_**Activate**_

And across dead worlds throughout the galaxy, long dormant eyes open and long dead gods awaken with a roar.

* * *

...

* * *

Overlooking the cavernous gap of holograms and organic circuitry, the raised platform of Central Dogma fills with lights, shouts, and announcements. Tapping the black shoe on the metal floor, the Commander of NERV unfolds her arms and adjusts the black jacket. The uniform is the same style- not the exact same, thank God, but similar enough. Better tailored, better fitting.

At least she didn't have to grow a beard.

"Silhouette confirmed," the brunette at the right most console announces, "IFF not responding." The screen hovers, zooming in on an approaching shape. Flanked by long, black tendrils. "Registering AT Fields matching to the Fourteenth Angel, Eleventh Angel, and some others we haven't been able to zero in on."

Beneath the pyramid stairway, a pair of doors open. Still in her black dress, bomber jacket hanging off one shoulder, Misato skids to a stop next to the commander of NERV. "Ritz, key me in."

Commander Ritsuko Akagi moves to push her glasses up her nose. Then stops. "It's silhouette matches one of the MP Evangelions, but it's modified with several artificial Angel cores. We're still trying to figure out why it's here." She looks up, as if for benediction or advice. "Ikari?"

Speakers crackle. A familiar, aged voice comes from on high with terrible and passive aggressive news. "_It means that certain members of SEELE have noticed liver spots. Most likely, it's here to kill us all and attempt Third Impact with Lilith."_

* * *

...

* * *

The carriage rises, a frame over a hundred meters tall and almost as wide. Braces of steel, carbon and industrial diamond, it flexes under acceleration but holds. Reaching the surface outside the raised walls of the fortress city, restraints release and its sole passenger disembarks.

Four clawed feet dig into the ground, leaving furrows in the grass landscape surrounding the fortress city. Its thin frame straightens up, the cyclopean eye over the golden visor flashing brightly. Clenching one two three fingered hand into a fist, the exiting behemoth brings up its right arm. Grooves built into the lance shimmer in evening condensation, and with the hum of the built in engine, the drill begins to _spin._

Speakers built into the chest and shoulder fins of the Evangelion crackle. "_This is Pilot Makinami to incoming Angel,"_ she announces, "_Prepare your anus!"_

The shadow rises. The MP Evangelion, the white giant with black lips, cloaks itself in shadow. Shadow flexes out and becomes ribbons, hanging around it like a cloak, carrying it doll-like across the landscape. Its lips pull back into a smile and it sways, side to side, help aloft on obsidian spider legs before sending two tendrils swinging out.

They carve through hills, parting clouds, earth, and stone. Behind the Unit-05, a section of the wall slides diagonally down. Then the ribbons shatter and the golden wall appears with a sound of a ringing gong, flanking the emerald giant.

"_Ha ha! Evangelions can never kill me! I love them too much!"_

Jets blast out from the Eva's back and thrust the green behemoth forward, bringing its left arm back. Two pistons extend from the sides of its forearm. Its clawed, gripping hand flexes out fully. With a roar- both of the giant and the pilot, it slams its hand into the side of the MP Eva's head. Then the pistons slam back into place, and Evangelion Gogoki paints the landscape with the white giant's teeth.

The MP eva scowls- bones snap back into place, flesh knits itself. The Evangelion grabs the next swings, the blast wave tearing flesh and muscle- so much so that the hole is still visible a second afterwards, before the hand repairs itself. Black tendrils snap out around and behind the evangelion, wrapping around Gogoki and probing its AT Field for weak points.

Which gives the Evangelion an opening to drive the oscillating drill into the white giant's side.

The creature screams almost as loud as the engine shrieks. Black blood sprays out in a jet from its side, mixing with the ribbons that lash out, surround the green Eva's right arm, and yank it clean off.

"_Motherfucker! I just had that arm installed!"_ Vents open along the shoulder fins. "_Bitch don't know about my missile batteries!"_

Which is followed by missiles exploding all over the MP Eva's face and driving it back.

Shaking its head, the black tendrils retract. Two feathered white wings burst from its back. The chest folds open, revealing a shining core of red crystal flanked by blue. It glows, flowing red and pin energy over the body of the MP Evangelion, rising into a deafening whine before blasting out into a beam of pure force.

Unit-05 raises its remaining arm. The blast hits a golden wall, washing over it, blackening the fortress wall and burning the soil beneath its feet to glass.

And then the heat is gone, the force is gone, but the beam remains. Inside the entry plug, Mari's eyes go wide when Maya's voice announces _why._

"_AT Field frequency shift! Angel Carrier is now exhibiting traits of the Fifteenth Angel!"_

And Mari sees her life flash before her eyes. Unit-05 experiences its entire existence in the span of seconds, including the horrible, _terrible_ truth of its true name. Both of them scream. Both of them cry out in pain- not the physical, but the soul tearing _realization_ that they both realize.

Until the rocket impacts on the chest of the MP Eva, shattering the core and making the white giant reel back and collapse. Mari blinks, glasses fogged, A-10 connectors blinking on and off. Her world jerks and the LCL drains, leaving her sticky and wet and not in the good way.

The side of the plug opens with a jet of steam and the _clunk_ of a rocket launcher being dropped on armor, and a hand grabs her by the crook of her elbow and yanks her out of her seat.

"C'mon, Distaff. Walk it off."

Mari blinks and looks up at the face of Asuka. The redhead mutters, throwing Mari's arm over her shoulder, and carries her out of the entry plug. LCL drips and stains the blue blouse and black dress, but the pilot of Unit-02 says nothing, helping her compatriot out, sitting her down next to the smoking rocket launcher.

Looking over her shoulder, Mari sees Katsuragi's car parked by Unit-05's foot.

"Thanks for the save," Makinami slurrs.

Asuka sighs. She looks up, shakes her head. "Don't thank me. It probably wasn't my best idea."

Mari shrugs, tilting her head. "Why's that? Whole thing with the unresolved tension? Me being a 'loose cannon' and us being rivals?"

Asuka points. Mari follows the finger, over the hills, over the walls, and towards the MP Evangelion which has gotten up and now stands in front of them. "Oh, right. Cause you didn't kill it."

The MP Eva roars. Bellowing out, it brings back an oversized fist. Ever protective, ever the mother hen of the pilots, Asuka steps in front of her team mate. Not that it will do anything, not that it will actually save them. But as it is, she still sees the flash of fire in the sky. "Now what?" she asks herself.

* * *

...

* * *

"AT Field detected!" More klaxons blast through Central Dogma. A second blue pattern warning flashes next to the floating big screen, pointing towards the vaguely humanoid shape descending in a fireball towards the city.

"It disengaged from the unknown contact," Maya continues, "Correlating to 10th Angel- negative. Correlating to 15th Angel- negative."

Gloved hands tap on the keyboard. Behind her, Misato lets off a relieved breath when the MP Eva turns from the still Unit-05 to the fireball. Then back to Maya when she announces,

"The Blue Pattern is transmitting an _IFF signal!"_

* * *

...

* * *

It slams into the ground far enough from them to not kill them with the shockwave. It sends up dust and dirt, a cloud of pulverized earth masking the arena, flooding the fortress city in an impact fog. Asuka manages to keep her footing, even in her low heels and even with her dress billowing out around her. Through splayed fingers, she sees the shape rising. Vaguely humanoid at first, she gives herself a faint flight of fancy on it being there to somehow help.

Then her breath catches in her throat and her eyes go wide when she sees the silhouette of the _horn._

First there is the light from the turbine on its chest. Then the lines along the arms and legs glow, blasting away the cloud to reveal the titanic figure of violet and green. Fists opening, it levels its hands, taking a step forward and bracing itself before turning its lead hand around and gesturing the MP Evangelion forward.

* * *

...

* * *

Inside the entry plug, he lets off a held breath. He doesn't recognize the other girl on the unfamiliar Evangelion's shoulder, but he definitely recognizes the redhead. But he can think on that later. The white Evangelion begins its charge, either recognizing him as a bigger threat or whatever part Unit-01 was going to be in the old men's plans.

He takes a deep breath. The MP Evangelion charges. Sensors and vitals run over his eyes- the waiting dreadnought in orbit, the panicked yelling from Lia about what they found, even the kid they found on that planet with the beacon. He drowns them all out. He's tried to put it behind him in the five years it's been. Tried to focus not on this place but where he found himself. Telling himself that either they lived or they died.

He hears the familiar voices. He's known Tokyo-3, but a fraction of the time he was with the place he has called his home for half a decade. But he recognizes voices- Misato, Doctor Akagi, even his father. Then he mutes them all and narrows his eyes.

"Okay, get ready," he whispers, "This is for real."

* * *

...

* * *

Roaring, black tendrils flowing from the feathers of its wings, the MP Evangelion reaches out with extended fingers towards Unit-01's eyes. Then the purple giant flashes blue and disappears, appearing behind the Eva and grabbing its wings. It drives a heel into its back and pulls, painting the landscape with black and gold, yanking off the wings and lunging forward to grab the white giant in a headlock.

On Gogoki's shoulder, Mari pumps her fist. "_C'mon Shogoki!"_ she shouts, "_Kick his ass!"_

Pulling and tearing off armor from the back of the Evangelion's neck, Unit-01 drives the side of its fist into the first of the artificial cores, shattering it with a plume of red crystal. The MP Evangelion roars. Petals of white lightning explode from its chest. Beady black eyes go wide. It can feel itself lessened. It can feel the power of _Arael_ flowing away from it.

And then the MP Evangelion turns, grabs Unit-01 in a bear hug, and hurls it into Tokyo-3.

**End Chapter 1**


	2. In Media Res

**The **voice warbles, doppler shifting and resonating over the speakers. Both from surprise, distance, and speed, before the purple giant slams into one of the inner walls of the fortress city, spinning off with a bounce, going through a set of low hanging monorail tracks and through a shopping center.

It bounces once, twice, before it catches the ground with two clawed hands and grinds to a stop inside a construction site. Floodlights framing its head, it raises his demonic mask. Unit-01 has arrived in Tokyo-3, its pilot summoned to fight giant monsters in death battles, in over his head and dealing with his plethora of issues while inside his giant robot mom.

"Story of my life," Shinji mutters.

Beeps all around him, chimes of incoming messages and communications. Some from the ship, many from the base beneath his giant robot feet. Most of the names he recognizes, and his heart lifts at the realization that they didn't die just because he messed up those years ago. That they persevered and survived.

A snap decision and he taps open a screen, revealing the demure and calm face of Rei Ayanami. It does not surprise him that in the last five years, she has grown to look more and more like his- their- mother. She stares at him with red eyes, surprise evident on her face. He smiles back. Time passes and some things remain the same.

Then her eyes go wider and her face flushes red. "_Where the _**_fuck_**_ have you been?!"_ Or not, he thinks.

"Uh, Ayanami-"

"_WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN?!"_

He clears his throat. Sits up straighter. "I can explain later have to take care of the Angel-"

"**_WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEE-"_**

He taps the screen and it closes. Exhaling, he lets the bubbles pass by in the LCL. _I know about the whole 'incest' taboo, Shinji. But you're probably not leaving Earth with your virginity intact._

_ "_Not now, Mom," he breathes. In the distance, the MP Evangelion clears the second set of walls, charging towards him. "Let's focus."

* * *

**Chapter 2:**

**In Media Res**

* * *

Sometime between the sudden dynamic entry from orbit and the Eva being tossed into Tokyo-3, Misato Katsuragi, subcommander of NERV, found that she could close her jaw. The fact that she was crying wasn't much of a concern to her, as much as it was that _he was alive._ "Tell me that's _him,"_ she bellows.

Maya nods. She turns to the other two bridge bunnies to her left. The sandy haired teen with glasses nods, and the next to him Misato's second nods as well. "Vitals all match," Hyuga responds, "Visual silhouette we got from the plug cameras, even the voice. It's Shinji."

Knees give way and Misato grabs at the back of Maya's seat, propping herself up. "Alright! Get Rei to Unit-00 and prep her for launch! I want-"

Another screen _blips_ into existence in front of them. On it, the haze of static giving way to crystal clear picture, is an orange and white _thing_ with the rough proportions of a man, a flat face, large black eyes and one and a half horns rising from the sides of his head. The bridge into silence, save for Maya's breathy, "What."

"_Yes. Hello. If you understand, this means that the language Shinji spoke when showing up in Citadel Space five years ago was not made up!"_

Misato works her jaw. She turns to Ritsuko, who shrugs. "He...hello?" Misato asks, "Wha...who-"

"_Mordin Solus, STG. Retired."_ The _alien_ takes a short, sharp breath. "_Still have clearance. In orbit of your planet and-"_

A red armored hand pushes the _alien_ out of view and replaces him with a _red armored turtle man_. "_Right. You're NERV, right?"_

Misato nods. "I'm Subcommander Katsuragi."

"_Congratulations on your promotion."_ The turtle alien snickers. "_Name's Urdnot Wrex. I'm Shinji's adoptive dad. We're taking a shuttle down from the Death Star."_ Ritsuko work her jaw. Maya raises her hand. "_Don't blame me, Mordin named it-"_

_ "Perfectly logical name for purpose,"_ come's the high pitched protest from off screen.

"_And we're gonna have a chat." _The turtle alien clears his throat. One eye, on one side of his head, as they begin to notice that _he has eyes set like a large turtle_, turns. "_Lia. Get the doors."_

A faint chime. Maya looks down. "Subcommander, Commander, we just lost control over the aircraft landing bay by the Eva cages."

Misato frowns and folds her arms. "You can't just do that."

Wrex chuckles. "_You're adorable."_ And the screen blinks out of existence.

* * *

...

* * *

Concrete pulverizes and the pressure wave bends the girders of partially constructed buildings. Kicking off from the crouch, Unit-01 moves, charging through the construction site. The MP Evangelion rises on black spider legs, hanging from the frame of liquid shadow like a puppet.

Every step echoes like thunder. Every heartbeat carrying the purple giant across the city, towards the enemy. When he last lived here, it was orders. It was a lack of purpose. He was a machine, a tool in a box. Five years away have corrected that.

Each step takes him closer and closer to the enemy that threatens the place he called home. Every step rumbles in time with the rushing air. For a brief moment, Shinji reminisces. Back, right after killing the machine on the idyllic garden world...

* * *

_..._

* * *

_Asari Calendar Year 9037 AA_

_ Salarian 4__th__ Cycle, 3__rd__ Motion_

_ 118 Post-Exodus, Migrant Fleet Timekeeping_

_ Three weeks ago._

_ "Shinji, the altitude actuator is off balance."_

Shinji grunts, tapping a holographic console into existence and turning a dial of hard light. "I noticed, EDI! Setting fuel burn!"

Dropping from the sky of the garden world, the 15,000 tons of angel, issues, and armor spreads its arms and legs wide. The turbine at the center of its chest spins up, and a blast of flame shoots out. Recoil kicks into the chest and sends the Evangelion flying backwards- but still falling, armor still glowing red.

"_Mom!"_ he shouts, "_We need to make physics cry!"_

There is a pull at the back of his mind. A sudden sensation of falling, not just of the Evangelion tumbling through the sky, but of himself being pulled down. Five years ago, he would panic. Ask what that was. Why the LCL tasted like blood. Kid stuff.

Here, he just exhales, clenches his eyes shut, and pulls back just as hard.

The entry plug goes clear, the green of the Evangelion's armor going emerald. Quickly approaching ground snaps to a halt, and 15,000 tons of god machine does not slam into the surface of a garden world.

_Right, sorry about that, _his mother says in the back of his head, _Got distracted. Let's go check on that beacon._

The emerald stripes along the Evangelion's limbs flash brightly. Eyes glowing white, the chin of the god machine scrapes against the ground of the garden world. Looking up, Unit-01 meets the gaze of a cyclopean robot and an Asari girl piggybacking off of it. The robot- the _Geth_- Shinji realizes, squats down and lets the girl off.

_"Ikari-Shinji,"_ the Geth says, raising its hand and spreading the two fingers of its quarian-esque hand, "_We come in peace. Live long and prosper."_

The Evangelion mirrors the motion of its pilot and tilts its head, floating scant meters above the ground before lowering itself onto its hands and knees. "_We have studied human culture. We believe this is an acceptable greeting when encountering unfamiliar forms of life."_

The asari nods, waving. "I know, the Geth talks," she shouts, "It's weirding me out, too! Amira Onzaita, I'm one of the interns at the research station! Was!"

The demonic mask turns to her. "_Miss Onzaita, do you know where the beacon is?"_

She nods. The back of the Evangelion's neck opens, and the white tube spins out. "_Great. Please get in the giant robot."_

* * *

...

* * *

Now.

Asuka Langley Sohryu watches. She watches the walls. She watches the white Eva trailing off to fight its new foe. Five years ago, she would have raged about how he stole her glory, stole her kill. She would have taunted him and yelled at him. She would have hidden everything, buried it down beneath her mask of how she felt, what she wanted to do.

She doesn't hide. Not anymore. Now, she can- and will- be completely honest about her intentions towards one Shinji Ikari.

"I'm going to _murder_ him."

A finger taps on her shoulder, and Asuka meets the cat-like gaze of Mari Makinami. "Before, or _after_ the sloppy makeout session?"

Asuka works her jaw. She thinks on that for a moment. "Mari," she say, low and level.

"Yes," she _purrs._

"Shut up and get in the giant robot."

Mari fixes her glasses and scoffs. "You sound like my dad." Behind her, the metal strains, the head of Unit-05 turning slightly. The pink-clad pilot turns on her heel and walks towards the entry plug with Asuka following.

Sloshing into the amber, blood flavored goop, Asuka considers pulling up the ends of her dress. But, this isn't the first time she piloted while dressed for a night out. "Alright, Distaff. Just like the 19th."

Mari hops into her seat, pigtails bobbing. Tapping a switch on the side, a second chair folds up into which Asuka deposits herself. Buckling herself in, she taps the armrests. "Princess to Goddess. Come in Goddess."

A screen folds out and becomes the face of Rei Ayanami. "_Here. Before you asked, already talked. It's him."_

The back of Mari's seat opens up. Asuka pulls out the cat eared barrett, fixing it in her hair. "Yay. Second opinion?"

Another screen flips open and becomes a sandy haired young man with glasses. "_All vitals match, Asuka. As far as anyone can tell, it's Shinji." _He grins, reaching up and adjusting his lenses. "_Brainwaves we're getting from the backdoor in the plug tell us he's a lot happier, too. Think you may have competition."_

Asuka scowls. He eyes narrow and her lips tighten. It is a testament to the young man's bravery that he doesn't recoil, doesn't yelp. "Kensuke, just prep Unit-05 for a dual synch."

"_It's been a long day,"_ Rei adds, "_Unit-00 prepped for activation. But like I said, Kensuke. This has been a long day."_

Kensuke Aida tilts his head. "_Oh, right! Footrubs?"_

Rei waggles her eyebrows. Kensuke shrugs, shaking his head with a put upon sigh. "_Rei, I sometimes get the feeling I'm not the man in this relationship."_

The blue haired girl smirks. "_Of course you are the man. I'm just the Rei."_ And both screens blink out.

Asuka stamps her foot against the floor, metal ringing and LCL rippling. "Get into gear, Gogoki," she booms, "Or I swear I will tang and come down there _myself."_ The LCL ripples with a heartbeat. In front of her, Mari smirks, shifting in her seat.

"Someone's in a hurry~"

"_Second Child's psychograph is stable," _Kensuke announces, _ "Fourth Child's psychograph is stable-"_

"Ish," Mari adds. Asuka growls.

"_LCL ionized. A-10 connectors at full charge. Unit-05 core responding. Synchronization in three...two..."_

The final count drowns out and Asuka feels herself being drawn down, down deeper and deeper. Her life- and Mari's life- flash before her eyes with the haze of memories from Unit-05's Core soul, the twisted and broken thing within there. And Asuka Langley Sohryu flashes to five years ago and the Fourteenth Angel as-

* * *

_..._

* * *

_Unit-02 turns, its armor scored and a mix of coolant and blood leaking from the stump that was the left arm. Just enough that the ribbon shreds armor and flesh, rather than takes off the arm entirely. Inside the plug, Asuka screams, one hand clutching her left shoulder, her other hand clutching her right arm. The pain burns- almost as much as the fear, almost as much as the grief, almost as much as the anger._

_ "Listen to me!" She doesn't look at the screen. She doesn't look at the black angel, lumbering towards her- towards the NERV pyramid behind her. The last line of defense, and she has failed, as always. "Asuka, listen to me. For once, please." She still shivers, but her ears perk. Misato's voice carries over the plug._

_ "Asuka, I know you're angry. I know you're grieving. But for once in your life, you have to listen." A single blue eye opens to center on the screen and on Misato, who holds a folder with a bloodstain on it. "You blame yourself for Shinji's death, just like you blame yourself for your mother's. But Shinji died protecting us-"_

_ Her hands tighten around the controls. She feels the pull, the familiar pull at the back of her mind. The one she's fought for nine years- "And Kaji died giving me this. Asuka, the Evangelions have a **soul.** At the core of each and every one of them is another human being. And the soul at the heart of Unit-02-"_

_ The black angel approaches. Extending its tendrils, gathering them before it into great spheres of razor shadow-_

_ "Is **Kyoko Sohryu.** Your mother's soul is in Unit-02!"_

_ Blue eyes open in the darkness. Throat dry, she stares down the Angel. Maybe in disbelief. Maybe in shock. And manages out one single word._

_ "Mama?"_

* * *

_..._

* * *

_The angel's blade crosses the distance, aimed towards the neck of the Eva- towards the cockpit and the final impediment towards its completion. But the blade splits, driving into opposite mountains on the extended hand of the Evangelion. Green eyes alight, the shoulder fins drop to the ground. The armor strains and breaks, releasing the green cylinders. The limiters which kept it sedate, kept it stupid, kept it slumbering._

_ The slow growl and the creaking of breaking bolts is overshadowed only by the announcement from within an empty plug by the panicked voice of one Lieutenant Ibuki;_

_ "**Synchronization has spiked at four hundred percent!"**_

_And Unit-02 roars. Not a berserker rage, not an animalistic howl, but all too human anger. It gathers the ruined tentacle around its hand and it pulls._

_ Zeruel, Angel of Might, is allowed a brief moment before the mere shadow of ADAM yanks it forward. In the recesses of its overmind, it can only approach realization- of the strength of this unleashed beast. Of the meaning of the roar. Of the arm of light which has formed and taken the place of its left arm._

_ Of how much it hurt when the Evangelion drives its newly formed fist into the Angel's face and launches it out of the Geofront with a single punch. "Doctor Sohryu," Misato's voice announces, "It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance!"_

_ And inside the Core of the Evangelion, a fourteen year old girl has let down her walls and lets her mother hold her for the first time in nine years-_

* * *

...

* * *

"_Synchronization holding strong. Activating the Evangelion."_

Reality snaps back into place. Mari pumps her fist and Unit-05 rises. "Go," Asuka orders, "If that stupid bastard dies again I am going to _kick his ass!"_

The locks around the jaw break, and Unit-05 throws back its head with a howl before charging into Tokyo-3.

* * *

...

* * *

Black shadows slam into the streets. Lips warbling, the MP Evangelion gives off an animalistic, mindless roar. It charges on spider legs of ink, wings of light extended from its back and hunger driving its soul. From the other side of the construction yard, Unit-01 charges, arms pumping and clearing city blocks with each stride.

The Angel, the Evangelion, looms above. Held aloft by its shadow, carving up streets and buildings in its charge. It roars, eyes flashing and a blast of blood lightning streaming from its chest.

Which hit nothing. Followed by a sphere of force driving down from above and slamming into the white giant, breaking its shadow legs into glowing embers and driving them both into the crater that was once the construction yard.

The MP Eva rises to all fours, shaking its head. It looks up just as Unit-01's fist leaves a metal indentation on the side of its face, knocking it to its feet and making it warble. Bracing against the metal framework of a building, it shakes its head and charges.

Followed by Unit-01 slamming its other fist upside the white eva's jaw. Another punch drives into the evangelion's stomach, a wild swing by the white eva caught by Unit-01 before it wraps its arm around the offending fist, twists, and the snapping of bone is drowned out by the MP-Eva's shriek.

Which is itself cut off by the knife-hand to the Eva's throat.

Inside the plug, Shinji's focus briefly fractures due to the screen that opens up beside him. On it is a quarian, but rather than the generous curves attributed to Lia, the shape is much more blocky. The facemask is black with white eyes, the suit gray with red highlights. "_Bet you never thought those lessons on fighting Evas would be useful, pilot!"_

"Reegar, I'm a _little busy." _He growls it more than says it, teeth clenched and focusing on the thrashing MP Evangelion. Unit-01 twists more and pops the shoulder out of its socket, before twisting its entire torso and ramming the white Eva through an incomplete building.

_Oh, don't be cross. You just always thought his lessons on fighting Evangelions would be for when I inevitably went insane __**and**__ evil._ Shinji growls and mentally shouts down his mother. Unit-01's hand lashes out and grabs another core from the back of the MP's neck, pulling it lose with one hand and tossing it aside.

"_Anyway, let you get back to it! We're on our way to NERV-"_

Shinji turns and glares at the image of Kenn'Reegar. "You're _what?"_ Then there is the _sensation_ of half his teeth coming loose and his head snaps to the side. A side-glance at the camera confirms yes, the MP Eva has gotten out of the clinch and punched him in the face.

Whirling, Unit-01 drops. Bracing on one foot, it goes with momentum, stumbling forward towards a set of freight containers.

The MP Eva shrieks and lunges. Reaching down, violet gauntlets grab two handfuls of metal freight, clench them into metal laden fists, and Unit-01 swings its fist into the MP Eva's face. The white eva stumbles back, warbling in confusion and pain, long enough for Unit-01 to swing its other fist into its enemy's face and paint the construction site with teeth.

"_We're taking a shuttle down from the carrier and Lia's already hacked one of their shuttle bays with your giant mum's backdoor codes,"_ Kenn'Reegar continues, "_You finish killin' that thing and we'll all meet for the reunion!"_ The quarian pumps his fist. "_An' remember what I told you- always go for the eyes! Keelah'selai!"_

The screen cuts out. "It doesn't _have_ eyes," Shinji yells back, and Unit-01 smashes both fists on either side of the MP Eva's head.

Dropping the freights, Unit-01 snaps its arms back. Circles open on the palms, crackling with electricity. "_Arc Projectors,"_ Shinji yells, "Now!"

The MP Eva lunges, blinded with pain, overcome with rage. Unit-01 bobs to the side, slams its left palm against the MP's right shoulder, and a crack of lightning echoes throughout Tokyo-3 right before the white eva's arm blasts off with a spray of black.

The stump quivers, and a pale, fleshy arm sprouts. _Well, that confirms it,_ Yui yells, _S2 organ!_

Unit-01's foot smashes into the MP Eva's knee, shattering it. One hand grabs the evangelion's lower jaw and yanks down, and the purple titan rams its other arm down the MP Evangelion's throat.

The white hands, both flesh and armor, claw at the purple armor. Followed by flashes of lightning coming from its stretched open mouth and the angelic evangelion spasming. Yanking its arm out, the Eva grips a pulsing, glowing white orb, pockmarked with wires and welded together struts. Dropping the organ, it brings back its fist. Light flows over the forearm and stretches out into a pulsing shaft of violet and green extending from the elbow.

"_Impact Lance,"_ Shinji yells.

The Eva slams its fist into the spasming white god machine's chest. The lance thrusts in, through the fist, into the chest, and the Mass Production Angel Carrier hangs in the air in front of Unit-01 for brief, scant seconds.

Then its chest explodes outwards, littering the construction site with bits of angelic matter, glistening chunks of pulverized core, and shards of white armor.

Unit-01 straightens up, arms resting at its side. The thundering footsteps in the distance become closer, and the demonic head of the purple titan turns to the approaching figures of Unit-05 and Unit-00.

_Welcome home~,_ Yui sing songs in the back of Shinji's head. He sighs, shakes his head, and resigns himself to fate.

* * *

_..._

* * *

_Three weeks ago._

The asari slides into the LCL, the ends of her coat bobbing in the liquid. The Geth floats along, vents along its back keeping it buoyant. "This is amazing," Amira shouts, "I've never been inside an Evangelion! But it's not like there's more than one and-" She turns, rotating in place towards Shinji, "Is it true that synchronization is like Melding? And if I melded with the Evangelion, I would somehow become impregnated by it?"

Shinji blinks. He rubs the bridge of his nose, shaking his head and whispering over and over again '_no no no no no no no,_' almost as if there was a voice in the back of his head telling him '_yes yes yes.'_

_ "Ikari Shinji,"_ the Geth states, floating towards the control chair, "_We wish to speak with you."_

Shinji nods. The walls turn transparent, Amira floating over and gripping the back of the chair. "But the Geth haven't left the Perseus Veil in over a century," Shinji states, the landscape shifting in time with the Eva's run towards the Beacon.

"_This is correct. Geth have observed the effect of the Angelic terraforming of Rannoch. We wish to understand, and contemplate how to restore Rannoch. If possible, to then restore the Creators to Rannoch."_

Shinji blinks. Amira tilts her head, both at Shinji and the pair of A-10 connectors that rise temptingly out of the back of the chair. Shinji presses a button and they retract back in. "I thought you were at _war_ with the Quarians."

"_Geth value their own existence. Creators wished to destroy Geth. Geth responded to defend themselves."_ Four petals extend around the single flashlight eye. "_We value the existence of the Creators."_

Shinji works his jaw. He nods, turning back towards the landscapes of the garden world, willing the Evangelion on. "Sounds...legit, I guess. So who are you, exactly?"

"_We are Geth."_

He sighs. "I understand you're from the Geth. I mean you. You, exactly."

Amira shifts behind the chair, peaking over it. The plug shifts and somehow she finds herself sitting on on the back of the entry plug chair, with her legs draped over Shinji. "_We are Geth,"_ the geth responds, "_We are all Geth. Geth are not individuals. We exist as a matter of perspective. Each Geth is interchangeable with any other."_

Shinji looks up at the Asari. She shrugs, and the plug lurches again, somehow depositing her on Shinji's lap. "The Eva does that," he confesses with a put upon sigh, "Anyway. Will the Geth in _front_ of me be open to having a name?"

"_Yes."_

He shrugs. Mysterious, not forthcoming with exact information, and insists it is replaceable. "I'm going to call you _Ayanami."_

The petals extend. "_This is an acceptable designation. We are Ayanami, a terminal of the Geth."_

The sixty meter titan slows to a trot, then to a walk, then finally to a stop. The raised gunmetal platform flickers, the domed shield folding downward to reveal the blocky shuttle, and the figures standing atop it, near the monolith at its center. The rest of the research station has seen better days- spires smoke and burn, farms smoldering even as frigates pass overhead to dump water.

Wrex waves the Evangelion forward, his armor slightly blackened and worn. Grunting, he waves off the stringy, sharp toothed vorcha. "Shinji!" He waves his arms high. "Get out of the plug and bring your connectors! Mordin wants to try something!"

The Evangelion hesitates. Shrugging behemoth shoulders, it takes a final step forward and goes down to one knee. Placing one arm against the platform, its form goes rigid and its eyes fade from white to yellow. The armor on the neck slides back and the entry plug spins out. LCL drains down grooves in its side and into the Eva, a hatch opening to let Amira climb out first, followed by the Geth and by Shinji.

A half dozen red dots paint the Geth. Its petals fold out and it stares at the quarian marines standing on the platform, their rifles out and aimed at it. Muttering under his breath, Shinji steps in front of them. "Stand down!" he yells, "The Geth is with me!"

Shinji grabs the Geth by the crook of its arm and pulls it along, marching down the Eva's arm with the synthetic and the Asari in tow. "Wrex, this is Amira. She's the only survivor I could find and she can give us an idea what happened." He turns to Lia and hauls the Geth over. "The Geth showed up and wants to talk."

An eyebrow arches under Lia's faceplate. "Geth don't talk."

"_Geth platforms contain too few Geth to communicate. We are a specialized platform containing 1,183 Geth."_ Petals extend and fold back. "_We are Ayanami, a terminal of the Geth."_

The light on Lia's mouthpiece glows, long and steady for several seconds. "_We were named by Ikari Shinji."_ Shinji shrugs, gesturing to the synthetic.

Lia shakes her head, folding her arms. "Sounds legit. Anyway, we can...discuss this in a bit, as Doctor Solus-"

Mordin pushes past, grabbing Shinji by the arm and yanking him over towards the beacon. Speaking in excited tones with many exclamations, pausing for breath only to return back to speaking in clipped, loud scientific terms. Before standing Shinji directly in front of the beacon and adjusting the A-10 connectors on Shinji's head.

"So wait." Shinji blinks, cocks an eyebrow. "You're telling me that you figured out that the Protheans used a system similar to the control system of an Evangelion-"

"_Yes!"_

"-and you want me to synchronize with the alien, possibly dangerous alien monolith in front of me?"

Mordin nods hurriedly, tapping depressions on the sides of the connectors. The omnitool around Shinji's left hand goes, and the blue sphere pops into existence. "_Oh! This seems fantastic! And a three-way synch will lower the load on Shinji!"_ Shinji grits his teeth. Lia raises a hand, even aas the quarians and vorcha take several steps back. "_Aaaaaand setting up the channel. A-10 connectors charged. Initiating synchronization...__**now."**_

* * *

_..._

* * *

_The color drains from the world._

_ The light dims and the world becomes a single point, locked in time, locked in the moment._

_**We shall be as gods We shall be as gods We shall be as gods We shall**_

_** be as gods We shall be as gods We shall be as gods We shall be as gods**_

_** We shall be as gods We shall be as gods We shall be as gods We shall**_

_"The armies of our gods shall walk amongst the ruins of our enemies!" Clad in finery, standing aloft, the four eyed giant raises a hand and the armies of both men and god machine roar. "The Hierophant speaks! The Reapers come for our worlds, but we shall show them our true measure!"_

_ Another roar. Massive figures striding stars. Great machines of metal, ancient starships older than suns fighting on burning worlds against golden giants who bend reality to their whim._

_**Let us all ascend.**_

_** The Catalyst shall guide us to truth!**_

_He sees a child running. Four golden eyes, hand held out. No older than __**four**__._

_**Bring the Catalyst! Let the Prothean Empire become eternal!**_

_A gilded giant roars. The god machines charge at it, but he can only watch them be cut down, crushed and trampled beneath it._

_**The Crucible has betrayed us!**_

_** Where is the Catalyst?**_

_** WHY HAS THE CATALYST BETRA**_

* * *

...

* * *

Shinji falls to his knees, face pale, eyes wide. The A-10 connectors drop to the ground, Mordin moving to help him even as Unit-01 comes to life behind them, partially closing its hand around Shinji so he can brace on one of its fingers. There is a hiss of steam, a pale cerulean light emanating from the beacon.

And then it opens.

And Shinji realizes it was never just a beacon, but a _stasis pod._ The metal parts and reveals a child with gray skin and a sloped back head, red tendrils falling around her face. Four eyes are closed, her arms crossed across her chest, the thick coat around her rumpled and hastily put on. Maybe to keep her warm. Keep her safe.

The light cuts out and her eyes open, revealing hourglass pupils, wide and going wider as she sees him. She scrambles to her feet, eyes darting side to side. Behind Shinji, the quarians save for Lia reach for their weapons, the vorcha looking confused and Wrex's eyes go wide as saucers.

Shinji, on the other hand, moves. He darts forward, putting himself between _her_ and _them,_ and lets her thin fingers touch his face

_And he sees the girl running. Terror evident on her face, barely old enough to even comprehend the fear. Yelling, barely able to breath, barely able to keep up, chasing a shadow that recedes into the distance, yelling_

_ "Father! Don't leave me! Please!"_

Breath catches in Shinji's throat. His eyes lock with the girl's. Both hang silent, Shinji on his knees and standing as tall as the girl. Then he reaches out, grabs her, and pulls her into a hug, pressing her face against his shoulder and whispering words into her ear that he wished he heard so many years ago.

"It's alright. You're not alone."

The girl's eyes go wide. Then her face twists, flat nose scrunching and lips quivering. Four streams run down her face, and Shinji presses her against him to muffle the cries. Rubbing his hand up and down her back, her holds her while she shivers and shakes, silent whispers reassuring her. Telling her she's not alone.

"This is new," Lia states. Next to her, Ayanami extends its petals. "_Yes,"_ the Geth observes.

Shinji stands, still holding the child. Turning to them, he snaps his fingers. "Some water," he says, "Please."

Amira reaches out. A small bag floats over, and she walks over to hand it to Shinji. "I don't understand," she says, "She was in the Beacon? Who is she?"

Handing the girl the water, he gives off a faint, unsteady grin. "Her name is Vessae," he says, "She's Prothean." Clearing his throat, he turns to the others. "The last Prothean."

* * *

_..._

* * *

_Now._

Now. Now Shinji Ikari sits in the seat of the entry plug, hearing the muffled whirring of the cage elevator lowering Unit-01 back into its old berth. Now he hears announcements over speakers, hears the marching of boots on metal catwalks.

Blue eyes close, bubbles passing through the golden liquid of the plug. He hears the whirring slowing down, the turbine powering down. The sudden and swift jerk of the entry plug spinning out. _Do you need a moment?_ The voice asks.

"No." Tapping the release on his chest, the straps retract into the seat. Running a hand through his hair, he idly wonders if he should have brought his helmet. Exit the plug silhouetted, full encounter suit. Probably make him look pretty badass.

LCL drains out through the floor and he climbs out, through the hatch and onto the catwalk of the strangely familiar hangar. Walking, hands clenching and unclenching, he steps down the stairs onto the larger, solid gangplank where several familiar faces are waiting. To his left, he can see Unit-00 being lowered into its berth, entry plug already spun out. Past that, he sees the centaur-ish-drill-armed thing.

But right now, he looks at the small crowd already assembled. He spots familiar faces, some he didn't expect to see in NERV uniforms. He opens his mouth- maybe to apologize, maybe to say something smartass to fight the butterflies in his gut.

He doesn't get a word out before Misato rushes forward, forcing the air from his lungs when she hugs him as hard as she can.

The first thing they notice is that he has _grown._ Rather than being buried in her, rather than his face being muffled against her chest, he stands as tall as her and hugs her back. Rather than being meek or scared, rather than being small against her, he lifts her off her feet, spinning around and making her sobs turn into laughs.

They all watch the subcommander kiss him- not romantic, not on the lips, just her lips buried in his hair and squeezing him as tight as she can manage. Her head rests on his shoulder and they stand there, wordlessly laughing. "Oh my god," she whispers, "You're _alive."_

He smiles, nods. "It's a long story." He smiles wider. "But I should-"

He spots Rei trotting towards them from a catwalk leading from Unit-00. Sees Asuka, her dress sticky from LCL, marching towards him and trailed by the girl in pink. But they all stop when the shuttle descends down the shaft of the cage. A blocky, boxy thing with jets on its undersides, hovering and yet emitting no heat, its roar still deafening.

It opens, and Rei immediately stops in mid step, watching the door that opens on its side and staring at the _things_ climbing out. Asuka stops next to her, both tilting their heads.

"Ikari," Rei says, "Was abducted by aliens."

Asuka blinks. Works her jaw. And manages a short, flat, "What."

* * *

...

* * *

The lanky, orange and white person with the horn climbs out of the shuttle first, nimbly balancing on a railing of the catwalk and hopping off. He looks around with almost solid black eyes, a construct forming on his left hand. Next there is the turtle alien, who they can't help but realize looks even bigger in person. He marches forward, grinning, stopping and resting his hands on his hips.

"So," he grunts, "You're Katsuragi."

Misato slowly lets go of the kid, turning to Wrex. She straightens up, clicking her heels together. "And you're the...guy?...who found Shinji?" She works her jaw, straightens her jacket. "I'm still a little confused on what exactly is happening, least of all why I can understand you."

Mordin raises a hand. "Simple. Translation software built into omnitool. Can understand due to exposure to Pilot Ikari." A short, sharp breath. "Some things not picked up. Swears, mostly."

* * *

...

* * *

At the edge, so far away it would take minutes if not hours for them to see it, the ice planet has retreated into the distance. A single, pale dot against the expanse. In time, its orbit will become regular, the added weight of its unnatural companion gone.

Now, the structure will remain. In the words of the inhabitants of this solar system who have dared to gaze beyond the skies of their world, it is called _Charon._ Its name means ferryman to the next world, and these words were prophetic indeed. The Mass Relay of the Sol System now hums with power, its icy morass shed and the light at its center flashing brightly.

And then there is a faint shift, a ripple in space that releases a single ship. It is long and worn, a shaft of metal laden with turrets and lights, a paired circular drive humming on its aft. Another shift, and a second joins it. Then two more. Then five. Then a dozen.

Then a hundred.

Then a thousand.

Then even more. The Charon Relay is soon blotted out by the swarm of vessels- some identical, some different. Some patchwork. Some with swept back fins and some lumbering giants, spheres with engines and turrets tightly packed at the center.

They move in practiced formation like a herd of beasts, and speed on towards the heart of the Sol System.

"_This is Admiral Von'Reegar vas Nasrannoch. We have cleared the Charon Relay. No immediate threats detected."_ He moves along silently. Not out of stealth, but because no one can notice him. None can see him. "_Navigational charts have confirmed the presence of an asteroid field past the largest gas giant. Density too low to pose a threat. Picket ships to liveship formation. Power to kinetic barriers."_

He has always liked the Quarians. Despite their poor circumstances, they persevered. They held onto their culture and arts, their identity. When bounty came to them in the form of Shinji Ikari, and the respect and resources of the galaxy were made available, they did not change who they are. They simply became less desperate.

He walks through the liveship, and marvels at the change. Where there was simply sustenance, there is now more. There is art along refurbished walls. Insects buzz around, cloned by salarian scientists and dispersed through the habitation vessels.

What was- and would be otherwise- a patchwork of catwalk and pressure hull is now a floating world with transparisteel roof that gives the light of a fabled sun upon the inhabitants. Civilians, elderly, children. He has come to see the latter, today.

The light of his soul blinds them to his presence. As soon as he passes, the image of him is scrubbed from their memory. He walks through hallway and causeway, and to a domed playground at the heart of this vessel.

There he can see children- first of their kind to walk without helmets and suits due to the bounty that has come their way, playing and laughing, learning at the feet of elders and watching recordings of lost history. He would let them see him, usually. For he was a curiosity- a young quarian man with pale skin and ash hair, who walked without a helmet for he did not need one.

For he was not quarian. It is simply that all who see him will slot him into the role of one of their own. Turians see him as a pale turian man with bizarre facial markings of every colony. Asari see him as a maiden with silver tendrils. Salarians see him as a bizarrely calm, chalk white youth.

But the girl who turns, and who's four eyes go wide, sees him as a young prothean with silver tendrils going down his back, and she kicks off the bench she was sitting on to run to him.

"Kaworu!" she yells, unheard by everyone else for he wills it not. Bending down to one knee, he receives her with a hug, smiling brightly as he always does.

"Hello, Vessae," he says.

She hugs him as tight as she can. And then her eyes go wide and she looks up at him. "But, I thought you were dead."

He nods. "I was. But death is a doorway. Time is but a road." He places a long finger upon her flat nose, and tilts his head with a smile. "And this time, Vessae Milinato. I promise I _will_ make you happy."

* * *

...

* * *

First Contact was interrupted by a blue haired young woman pushing past the assembled NERV security and officers to tackle hug the returned pilot. A faint spark of cerulean runs over Shinji's blue and black armored plugsuit, and the force of the impacting Rei doesn't manage to topple him. Instead, he hugs her back just as hard, squeezing the pale girl and laughing.

"Missed you too," he breathes.

Rei smiles, warmer and wider than he's ever seen her before. And she repeats,

"Where the _fuck_ have you been?"

Behind Rei, Asuka folds her arms. Still sticky from the LCL, she pulls her hair off of her neck and turns to Misato. "I thought you were going to, and I quote, '_Wring his neck'?_"

Misato cocks an eyebrow, brings up her hand, and strokes the half closed fist side to side. Shinji drops his jaw. Rei cocks her head. Asuka simply turns beet red, progresses into crimson, and stomps forward at the returned Third Child.

Letting Rei disengage from him, Asuka grabs him by the collar, yanks him forward, and presses her lips against his cheek. He smiles, rubbing the back of his head. "That's for coming back," she whispers.

He nods. Meets her eyes. "It's good to see you too, Asuka-"

"And this is for _dying on me, you jackass!"_

Then she brings her hand back and swings. There is a fainted flicker of gold on blue and a flash of white when her hand strikes his face. A spark of blue against a honeycomb second skin runs over Shinji, and despite Asuka's efforts he is unmoved from the spot he stood, much to his and to the redhead's surprise.

Misato's mouth hangs open. Mari cocks her hips and grins.

"Impressive," Mordin states, "Hits hard enough to set off kinetic barriers."

Wrex just nods. "And that explains everything."

The redhead simply stares at Shinji, blue eyes narrowed and jaw working side to side. He blinks, cocks an eyebrow, and twitches the fingers on his left hand. A construct of orange light flows into existence, and he looks down at the screen floating in front of him. Makes a note of _how much_ that slap affected his shields. "Sorry?" he half asks, half states.

"_Noting behavior for comparison."_ And then Shinji clenches his eyes shut and prays for a quick death. In front of him, Asuka stares straight past him and tilts her head. Two more sets of footsteps join the other _alien life forms_ that had already disembarked from the shuttle, and a familiar gloved hand seizes Shinji's wrist before two fingers intertwine with his four.

Wrex has already shuffled past the teenagers to stand next to Misato, wide grin on his face. Mordin records everything on his omnitool, left hand extended. Ritsuko writes everything down on her tablet computer.

"Well _hello,"_ Lia says, "I take it you are acquainted with my _boyfriend?"_

Asuka's nostrils flare. She nods, straightening up. "Yes. We're _acquainted."_

The light on the base of Lia's helmet glows in time with her _tongue click._ "Yes. You must be _Asuka._ I'm _Lia."_ She tilts her head, glowing eyes behind her facemask narrowing _ever_ so slightly and her hips shifting up against Shinji's.

Asuka cocks an eyebrow and folds her arms. Next to her, Rei takes a step back. And then another. "He's _told_ you about me?"

"More I saw his thoughts when he tore apart an Angel to get to me," she responds, narrowing one eye, wrapping an arm around his waist. "You were..._prominent."_

Both girls narrow their eyes. Shinji squirms and silently pleads to Rei for help.

Grunting, Wrex folds his arms and nods again. "Fifty credits on Lia," he grunts to Misato, "This gets to hair pulling, she's covered and she has the advantage."

Misato snorts. "You've never seen a catfight until you've seen one with Asuka. I will _take_ a piece of that action."

Behind Lia, the cyclopean robot raises the four petals around its eye and walks past the simmering stare down. It walks to Misato and Ritsuko, raising its hand in a two fingers V-shaped salute. "_Katsuragi Subcommander. Akagi Commander. We wished to speak with you on Angelic Combat Protocols. We are Ayanami, a terminal of the Geth."_

Behind Asuka, Rei stares at the Geth, and slowly turns her narrowed gaze at Shinji. "Kill me now," Shinji moans.

Rei responds with a knowing smile. "Later."

* * *

...

* * *

"_On approach to the fourth planet. Mass Effect drives dialed down to sublight."_ She mostly ignores the fleet-wide announcements. Pacing the circular catwalk, she clicks her tongue in time with her steps, staring down the lower hemisphere of the construction sphere.

She folds her arms and shifts in her stance, half leaning forward, half twitch of her fingers against her arms. The quarian woman narrows glowing eyes behind a lavender face shield and watches her work.

Already the arm has been formed and set- pale and soft, two fingers and a thumb. If not for the scale, it would be any other quarian. But it could fit a quarian in the palm of its hand and _crush_ them.

She shifts her hips, the ends of her long, black and red hip coat swaying. Rolling her shoulders back, she shakes her head. Such prices they pay. Even if this is the key to everything, it is still...monstrous at the least.

"Doctor Nelzi?"

She turns and waits for the turian to walk over. The silver skinned alien nods, his armor shifting like fabric, blue eyes set in deep sockets and giving her an admiring glance before he clicks his heels. "The Council sent me. Aurius Vitoran. Special Tactics and Reconnaisance."

The woman nods. Her assistants, the legion that they are, give the turian a wide berth. "So the Council has finally taken official interest," she sighs, "Semi-official. Spectre's aren't..." She air quotes, shrugging. "Official. But I'm not tied up and the worst you've done is _leer_, so I must not be in trouble."

The mandibles twitch. "How did you become this passive aggressive?"

"You should meet my daughter sometime." She gestures to the pit beyond the railings, and the turian walks up next to her. Looking down into its, he starts. His mandibles twitch out fully and his blue eyes go wide.

"Is that-"

The hologram appears, hovering over the cavity. Of a massive serpent, distended and shredded, white flesh sewn back together with surgical tools writ large. An enormous creature- but familiar, but also changed. Its once bladed arms converted to something more natural, a single stump extending into the beginnings of a leg, and its enormous jaw slowly being ground down to something more proportional.

"The Angel that attacked the Citadel," Fai'Nelzi vas Oberati explains, "Combined with material recovered and processed from twenty four other Angels, and converted into the first Quarian Evangelion."

Behind the mask, she smiles. "It will probably have a designation like Ikari's. But for now I'm calling it the _Rannoch._ Because it's going to reclaim the Homeworld."

* * *

...

* * *

Years ago.

Like forever, but only a handful. He felt the impact on the wall of the Citadel. Unbreakable material gives from the force, of both the impact of the vermillion giant and the blast from the angel that shreds the armor and cracks the core.

Shinji can feel himself break.

He can feel himself rend.

In the darkness of the cockpit, he can feel death come at last.

And he can feel the voice in the depths of the giant scream.

He is dying. He knows he is going to die. He knows he is going to fail.

He knows he can no longer run.

In the depths of the entry plug and before the white serpent, he feels the darkness and the blood against cool metal walls.

But for the first time,

He remembers why.

For the first time,

He denies the pain,

Denies the grief,

And denies himself.

A voice from what felt like forever, asking him why he pilots.

And at the edge of his hope,

And the end of his life,

Shinji Ikari finally has a reason.

"Lia."

Hands curl into fists. Blood red eyes open in the depths.

"Give. _Her. __**Back."**_

* * *

...

* * *

He presses his hand against the panel, and the door opens. He half expected a mausoleum. Instead he finds walls covered in transparent blueprints and trophy cases filled with angelic remains. A series of work tables house all manner of sciences; from circuitry to organic masses, from weapons to cookware.

Standing at the back of the room is a man with stone gray hair. The beard is gone, the glasses still there. Amber tinted to hide his eyes, even indoors. The black uniform traded in for a lab coat. Shinji clenches his fist, the armored material of his plugsuit creaking.

"I keep myself tapped into communications." A gloved finger taps on the desk. "You told them that you wanted a minute alone. Hello, Shinji."

Shinji works his jaw. Manages the words. "Hello, Father."

The two stare at each other for long moments. Shinji taps his left wrist, and Gendo taps the clear glass desk behind him. "I've cut the feed to my contingent," Shinji states.

"And I've cut the feed to NERV," Gendo responds, "So."

Shinji nods, leaning on a table and briefly glancing at a plate filled with mold. "Mom's alive inside Unit-01's core, and we've figured out a system that lets her communicate with us."

Clenching his fist in front of his face, Gendo bites his lip and lets tears run down his cheeks. Manly tears. "Called it." He pushes his glasses back up his nose. "Does she want to get out?"

"Turns out being turned into a doombot was a life goal."

Eyes narrow behind the amber glasses. "Also called that." A low breath followed by a muttered curse. "Crazy bitch."

Shinji shrugs, a put upon sigh followed by a gesture towards his father. "_You_ married her. I'm just the one who has to have her in my head half the time." Shinji shakes his head and taps his omnitool. An image flickers and becomes an alien in a bodysuit. Tall, humanoid, wide hips and hourglass figure, glaring at the viewer and tilting her hips. Showing annoyance and approval at the same time.

Gendo cocks an eyebrow. "And that is?"

"Quarian. One of the people who found me," Shinji explains, "In particular, this is Lia. I _think_ my girlfriend."

The image shifts again, becoming someone very much like the first. Only more curvy, more mature, and practically flirting with the camera. "And that's my girlfriend's _mother."_

Gendo cocks the other eyebrow. "I approve. Which one have you seen naked?"

"Both."

Gendo walks forward, extends his arm, and fistbumps his son.

* * *

...

* * *

The holographic circle is silent and dark. Where normally, there would be the two figures talking. Instead, there is nothing, meaning they have blocked all output. So they could be talking about anything, Lia thinks. Like where they have been, what has happened. A certain redheaded human girl who figured prominently in Shinji's thoughts.

"So when'd it become official?" Lia turns to the rumbling tones of Wrex, eyes wide behind the faceplate. The lights of the side room are florescent and artificial, and only help to make her more uncomfortable. "Because usually you just like calling him your '_bosh'tet'_ and not your _boyfriend."_

She rubs the back of her neck. Shifting in the spartan chair, she leans forward and taps her fingers. "I-well." She clears her throat. "Of course not because I could practically _hang a sign_ and he wouldn't know what to do and I wasn't calling him my _boyfriend_ he is just a _boy_ and a _friend."_

Wrex stares straight at her. A notable accomplishment with his eyes set on the sides of his head.

"Well it's also that this _girl_ comes along and I've seen inside Shinji's _thoughts_ and her only interaction with her is her _shrieking_ at him like a Vorcha that's set itself on fire!" She gesticulates. Especially the shrieking and fire part.

"Sooooo you're jealous." Wrex rolls the words on his tongue. He savors the wide eyed look of horror that crosses the quarian's face. Savors it like fine wine.

"I. Am _not_. _Jealous."_ She folds her arms and scoffs imperiously. "What would I have to be jealous about! I am not jealous! He's a slob and he's lazy and he can't keep his mouth shut and he lets my mother flirt with him just as much as I do-"

"So you _do_ flirt with him." Wrex grins. "Good to know."

She growls under her breath and turns away, staring at the synthetic by the door. Ayanami, Terminal of the Geth, raises its head petals. "Well, that's five minutes," Wrex growls, and walks for the door, "Scuse me."

* * *

...

* * *

The door to Gendo Ikari's office opens, just as Shinji finishes an explanation about the _blue skinned space lesbians._ "Said you wanted a minute, gave you five." Wrex strides in and levels a finger at Gendo. "You're Shinji's father, right?"

Gendo nods, hands in his pockets. "I am, yes."

And then Wrex walks over and headbutts Gendo Ikari as hard as he can. While Shinji expects his father to be unconscious on the floor, what he _gets_ is Wrex's head slamming into a honeycomb golden barrier which forces Shinji back and makes the tables jump.

Wrex grins, stepping back. Gendo pushes the glasses up his nose.

"So," the former director of NERV says, "A rivalry. Interesting."

* * *

...

* * *

The coffee has long turned cold, and so has the temperature in the NERV cafeteria. Not from the circulating air, not from the temperature differential. No, the source of the sudden chill is hate. Pure hate. With a side of confusion, sexual tension, and five years worth of 'what ifs' becoming 'what nows'.

The thin, black plastic straw rotates around the porcelain mug. Long having changed from her dress to a NERV uniform, the redhead stares across the table at her two team mates. Mari has the look of _afterglow_ upon her face, having since ceased singing the praises of the returned Shogoki, the returned pilot, and the cute ass upon them both.

Rei simply stares, still in her plugsuit but toweled off, hands folded over her mouth and looking deep into Asuka's eyes. "There's nothing," Asuka states, "Nothing at all. I have no interest. At all." Rei disengages one hand, raises it, and half closes it into a fist before stroking it side to side.

"I hate you," Asuka breathes, "So much."

Hands cradling her head, feet up on the lunchroom table, Mari continues humming some song or another. "I think we're taking this a bit too much in stride," Rei says, rolling her shoulders back, "Let's review. Five years ago, Ikari disappeared-"

"_Died,"_ Asuka growls, and turns away, biting her lip.

"Disappeared," Rei continues, red eyes narrowing, "But more to the point. He returned tonight. He _and_ a heavily modified Unit-01." She taps white gloved fingers on the table. "With help. Have my ear to the floor. The term being bandied about is-"

"First Contact," Mari answers with a cat like smirk, "Our first meeting with an alien race, and one of them is Shinji's space turtle step dad." She continues humming, humming turning into whistling. "Aaaand also Shinji's turned into kinduva _badaaa~aass."_

Asuka glares at Mari with force and gravitas, and the pink-suited brunette has not a damn to give. "He's better trained," Asuka admits, and gets a invisible _whap_ to the head from Rei as a result. "Hey!"

"Focus." Rei Ayanami sighs, put upon and fatigued. Once again she has to be the grownup. "We have made _first contact_ with a _collection of alien species._ I hold this of greater import than your pent up desire to wrest Shinji's virginity from him-"

Asuka sputters, face turning crimson.

"-Or your indignation about having competition. _Focus."_

A tray slides in front of her, between her and Asuka. Next to Rei, Mari perks up and sets her feet down, receiving the whip cream-topped mug of hot chocolate with a smile, even as the sandwich is set in front of Asuka and the soup in front of Rei.

"Soup for you, Rei. Mari, hot chocolate with marshmallows, and sandwich for evil incarnate." Kensuke slumps down in the chair next to Rei, opposite of Mari. "So what'd I miss?"

* * *

...

* * *

Mordin was joined by a young woman with blue skin and twitching tentacles atop her head. Clad in a single piece black and red dress which goes past her ankles, she moves with supernal grace, each motion measured. Each catching the eye of the two women.

Misato sits on the desk and Ritsuko sits behind it, both glancing in turn at the two aliens.

"Commander Akagi, Subcommander Katsuragi," the alien woman says, "I am Ambassador Ailinda Tevos of the Asari Federations. I represent the Citadel Council." She folds her hands in front of her. "And let me start with the basics. We need Evangelions."

Ritsuko folds her hands in front of her mouth. Misato slides off the desk, arms folded. "Let me get this straight. You found Unit-01, you brought it back here, and you need Evangelions? Why?"

Tevos turns, angling her gaze on Mordin. The scientist- the _salarian,_ as was explained to them, nods. Tapping the construct on his left hand, a hologram appears before them, light reflecting off the polished walls of the NERV commander's office.

What they see is a war- ships, floating plates in the sky opening fire on a giant of stone skin and impossibly elongated limbs. Vertical stacked eyes on its face flash and a cross of fire consumes several of the craft and the mountain beneath them.

Ships like hornets dive bomb the creature. Larger ships, like gargantuan wasps, level the ground beneath the giant, turning dirt to glass but not stopping it.

The two women watch the replay, the video, watching the creature boring a hole down the the center of the empty battlefield. And then everything flashes-

"One hundred and eighteen years ago," Tevos explains, "An Angel attacked the world of Rannoch. Despite a sustained attack by both the Quarians and the Geth, it achieved an Impact Event and contact with the planet was lost.

"Since then, Angels have attacked other worlds in Citadel Space. Some have been stopped by heavy bombardment at a steep price. Others have destroyed colonies and worlds." The blue woman folds her hands. She glances at Mordin and nods. "Until five years ago, when the Migrant Fleet found Unit-01."

Ritsuko and Misato trade a glance. "If I can ask." Akagi leans forward. "How do you even _know_ those terms?"

Tevos smiles, faintly. "We were told them by Doctor Yui Ikari."

* * *

...

* * *

The plugsuit is self cleaning and he managed to avoid getting any nicks and cuts during the fight with the MP Eva. Which means that he hasn't had to actually shower off the LCL, and from what he can tell he should have his body armor on at _all times._ Perhaps he should also invest in higher powered barriers when he gets back to the Citadel.

He walks at a brisk pace down the halls, one illuminated metal hallway leading to another, past framed images of Unit-02, Unit-00, and a black Evangelion standing over varied angelic corpses. He pauses and skids to a stop, turning to the pictures, trying to place the odd Eva and failing.

Then he continues walking, pumping his arms and looking straight ahead. He passes a metal screen and Unit-00's berth, and pays little attention to the flower prints on the wall behind the titan.

He doesn't ask, and he doesn't want to know.

He passes Unit-01's cage, ignoring the _ping ping_ on his omnitool. He passes Unit-02's cage and feels four eyes on him and resolves it's not the creepiest thing he's had to deal with. He skids to a stop at the next cage, however. The unfamiliar Evangelion sits in there- a black giant with a face like a pug. Yellow plating lines its arms, green lines edging along the shoulder fins.

Shinji stops. Walking through the open door, he steps onto the catwalks over the virtual lake of LCL. Tilting his head, he walks towards the strange Evangelion- eyeing the **03** on its arm. "Unit-03?" he asks.

"Yep! Second production model Evangelion!" He whirls, grabbing at the catwalk railing. Magnetic clamps in his boots lock him in place, and he sees a girl with black hair, short and in a yellow and black jumper. He eyeballs her age as somewhere around where he was when he was first told to get into the giant robot, and his stomach sinks.

"So you're Shinji?" she asks, tilting her head and a black braid swinging.

He nods. "Yeah. I don't think we met."

She smiles. "Nah. I mean, other than you stepping on me."

Shinji's jaw drops. A quick, horrible bit of realization passes over him. "Oh for God's sakes Sakura _don't bring that up!"_ An arm swings around from behind and loops around his chest, and Shinji yelps, his feet leaving the floor before he's whirled around in a circle. "Welcome _back!"_

And that he recognizes. Briefly mouthing an apology to Sakura Suzuhara, Shinji turns in the one armed hug to gaze upon the face of Touji Suzuhara, ally, friend, and sole sane man from his brief time in Tokyo-3.

And then notes that Touji has white hair. "Oh what the _hell_ happened to you?"

Touji grins, ear to ear, and does not release his grip on Shinji. "You first."

Which is when Shinji notes that a side-door to the cage has opened, and Asuka, Rei, Kensuke and Mari have gathered. Once more, Shinji finds himself swept up by forces beyond his control, and the option to say _'no'_ categorically denied. Story of his life.

"Okay. Let me start," he breathes, "It was five years ago..."

* * *

_..._

* * *

_Asari Calendar Year 9032 AO_

_ Salarian 4__th__ Cycle, 8__th__ Motion_

_ 112 Post-Exodus, Migrant Fleet Timekeeping_

_ Five years, six months, three weeks ago._

The engines mounted on the back of the boxy, inelegant thing blaze white, carrying the craft through the debris field. It weaves through free floating plates, through the blackened shaft that was once a hull, and between floating wrecks.

It wait.

* * *

...

* * *

"Wait," Shinji says, raising a finger, "Before I go any further." He turns to the pink suited woman. "Who are _you?"_

She cocks her hips, folding her arms under her chest and propping it up. "I'm _Mari,"_ she purrs, "And I'm neither _incest_ or _tsundere."_

Shinji blinks, staring. He rubs the back of his neck, visibly considering the words. "Right. Where was I?"

"Staring at Mari's chest," Asuka deadpans.

Shinji balls his hand and clears his throat. "No, before that." He rubs the back of his head, sighs, and continues.

* * *

_..._

* * *

_Asari Calendar Year 9032 AO_

_ Salarian 4__th__ Cycle, 8__th__ Motion_

_ 112 Post-Exodus, Migrant Fleet Timekeeping_

_ Five years, six months, three weeks ago._

The engines mounted on the back of the boxy, inelegant thing blaze white, carrying the craft through the debris field. It weaves through free floating plates, through the blackened shaft that was once a hull, and between floating wrecks.

The ship passes between two chunks of metallic debris. Honeycomb blue fields flash on either side, a slow warble from interior sensors accompanied by a high pitched yelp. "Kenn! Too close!"

Holding onto the right hand seat, Lia pulls herself over it and straps herself in. PDAs, loose panels and a half empty thermos float behind her. "I can honestly say that it's a good idea that you turned off the artificial gravity because you keep hitting _everything!"_

Kenn'Reegar doesn't roll his eyes. He knows better than that. "Yes ma'am." The debris field passes, giving way to a honeycomb structure of welded together asteroids, ship husks and passing shuttles. "Made sure to give the shuttle extra shielding just in case."

"Which is wonderful, as it's _not a shuttle, it's a skycab you wired a mass effect generator onto."_ He can feel her narrowed eyes and the adolescent rage seething from her. The interruption of her Pilgrimage for something this, as she would put it, '_minor.'_ That and it meant she couldn't spend time with that boy she had a crush on, but that may have been one of the reasons Reegar got his orders from on high.

The view goes from the debris to the thing at the center of the debris- a long and boxy thing, the frigates alongside it dwarfed by its rusted and corroded bulk. "A Krogan Dreadnought," Lia breathes, "Where did we find this thing?"

Kenn grins, and explains;

* * *

_..._

* * *

_"So your alien girlfriend has an alien boyfriend?"_

Shinji blinks and turns to his right, getting a good view of Misato's catlike smile. "Dammit," Kensuke growls, "He was describing the spaceship."

Shinji rubs the back of his neck, shrugging. "Not like that. Long story." He looks past her, and spots the assembling crowd. Commander Akagi, Wrex, and Mordin as well. "Uh-"

Misato folds her arms and turns to Ritsuko, unasked question in her eyes. The Commander of NERV nods. "Okay," she says, hands in her pants pockets, "Long range satellites just picked up about ten thousand ships that just appeared around Mars. Are these friends of yours?"

Shinji nods without hesitation. "It's the Migrant Fleet," he explains, and raises a finger, "Part of it. They're the Quarians. The people who found me, Lia's people."

Misato nods, rolling her hand to continue. Shinji looks past her at Wrex and Mordin. Mordin raises his hands, shaking his head, and Wrex shrugs. Once more acting on the whims of others, he taps his omntool into existence and a hologram of the galaxy appears in front of them. Asuka tilts her head, Rei blinks, and Kensuke squeals.

"I guess some of you were told," he says, and taps his left wrist, "But the Quarian homeworld was destroyed by an Angel. It was here." An arm of the galaxy highlights. "Beyond a place called the 'Perseus Veil.' We're here."

An arm on the opposite side opens up.

"You were halfway across the galaxy." It comes from Asuka not as a question, but as a statement. A dot highlights on the expanse, midway between the two.

"Actually, Leliel dropped me off in the Idran system," Shinji continues, "From what Mom explained, it wasn't distance, just that the Relay in the Solar System was inactive and-"

"Mom." Asuka holds up her hand, and once more sheer force of will cows Shinji into silence. "Wait a second. 'Mom?' Are you telling me you're _talking_ to your mother?"

Shinji turns to Misato. She nods, jamming a thumb at Mordin. Sighing, shrugging, Shinji taps his left wrist once more. "Come on out."

A blue sphere appears, floating at eye level. "_Well it's about time,"_ the eminently maternal tones of Yui Ikari announce, "_If it wasn't for the fact that I used my MAGI backdoors to view the surveillance cameras I would have thought one of your ladyfriends dragged you into a broom closet to break you in."_

Shinji coughs, shaking his head. Asuka tilts her head and Mari grins. "_Well hello everyone,"_ the sphere continues, "_Let's see let's see...ah yes, Nephilem, my facial features, must be Rei! Yes yes..." _The sphere floats past the blue haired girl, pauses and turns to Mari. "_Oh, good! Good! Didn't know if your father was going to find you, we'll talk later and you must be Kyoko's daughter!"_

The sphere zips over to Asuka, who takes a step back. "_Helloooo. I must admit you've grown quite a bit since I last saw you and since my son has! I haven't seen you shriek at him or play sexual mindgames with him since we got back."_

Asuka narrows one eye and straightens up. "Yeah well, you're _not_ the freakiest thing I've had to deal with lately." She cocks her head and turns her gaze to the aliens. "Think you can do the same with my Eva?"

"_Most likely," _Yui answers, "_How is your mother, anyway?"_

Asuka jams a thumb in the direction of the next Cage over, towards the mesh-obscured figure of Unit-02. The blue sphere turns and a red line warbles. "_Dear. Have to work on that. And oh yes!"_

It floats past them and towards the side door, where Gendo Ikari enters. "_Gendo. Gendo Gendo Gendo. I've had access to all of Shinji's memories. So I know how you abandoned him, cast him aside, and left him so traumatized that he would latch onto the first thing that offered him succor."_

A brief pause. The red line shifts and goes to crimson.

"_Good job! Knew I could count on you."_

As one, every gaze turns to Shinji. "Yeah, turns out my mother's pure evil," he says with a disinterested shrug, "Anyway. Misato, DoctImean Commander Akagi, did you talk with the Ambassador?"

Misato nods. "Yeah." She jams a thumb towards the door. "And you've got a shuttle coming in."

* * *

_..._

* * *

_Two weeks, four days earlier._

The Death Star hangs above, its massive form tiny from distance alone. The angular forward bays are closed and the faint glow of its engine provides the only definition to its otherwise shadowed form. He glances at it through the skylight, and turns back to the room onboard the liveship. Through a two way mirror, he can watch the proceedings-

Quarian children, Krogan hatchlings, and other children- children of the varied members of this task force- are meeting Vessae. At first curious, then accepting, Shinji allows himself a small smile when a group of quarian, asari, and krogan children drag off their newest passenger to help her with her letters.

"So." Shinji turns, and smiles to Fai'Nelzi, who walks in trailed by her daughter. The screens light up, appearing floating by her, and a padded chair slides over for her to sit in. "I compared a sampling I took from her to samplings from ruins that have been forwarded to me, and can confirm that the child is Prothean."

Shinji nods, turning back to the mirror and the classroom. "How old is she?"

Fai taps a transparent, floating keyboard. General data comes up- a silhouette of the girl, a picture of her face, samples from the jacket- which Shinji notices she isn't wearing. "I'd say between six and seven years old." Another screen comes up. Weight, height, bodyfat ratio. "She's a child."

"She's a Child," Shinji adds.

Fai looks up from the screen. Underneath her mask, her eyes becoming glowing discs.

"You mean she's an _Eva_ pilot?" Lia asks.

He nods. He walks along the mirror and watches Vessae mediating an argument between a krogan hatchling and an asari child. "Like I said, she can share memories with a touch. I got a...glimpse of her life." Hands tighten on the railing. "She's been forced into being a pilot since she was _four._"

Silence falls for several seconds. Shinji turns to stare at the playroom. Lia wrings her hands. Fai finally hits the nail completely on the head. "The Protheans had Evangelion technology." She taps on the keyboard, eyes searching streams of text. "But there's never been _any_ record of anything remotely resembling Unit-01."

The older woman dismisses the keyboard and taps her fingers by her mouth piece. "I got some flashes," Shinji explains, hand on the glass, "She was the pilot of an Evangelion called the _Crucible._ It was..." He grinds his teeth. "It was _more_ than an Evangelion. There were some plans for it. Kind of like Mom's original plans for me and Unit-01."

Lia blinks. She muffles a swear and walks out, door grinding shut behind her. "If we can find this Crucible," Fai says with a long held breath, "If we can find _evidence_ of Prothean Evangelions, it could lead to a...boon in the war with the Angels." She taps her fingers. "Shinji, do you know where the Crucible is?"

* * *

...

* * *

"Mars," Shinji explains. He looks to his fellow pilots. His friends. His sister, his fellow Children, his surrogate mother. Others who he knew briefly from his scant months in Tokyo-3. "The Crucible is on Mars."

He wrings his hands. For a moment, there is the introverted boy who could barely string together a sentence without apologizing. Then he shakes his head, leaning on the catwalk railing in front of Unit-03. "I didn't come back to Earth to stay. I came here because I need help. Because the galaxy needs help." His hand grips the railing tighter. He rubs the back of his neck and feels the faint protrusion. "There's a war going on. And they're losing. No matter how much I do, how many worlds I save, there are more out there, and there will be things I can't fight alone."

The breath rattles in his throat. It takes him a moment to realize they are looking at him. Eyes staring at him, not in disbelief, not in dismissal. "I'm the _only_ human that the Citadel, that the Council, has ever encountered."

His fingers tap. He smirks. "And between the garden world and now, I convinced the Council that if _we_ help them, they're going to throw as many resources as they can at Earth. Not humanity. Not the human race."

He looks up. Kids his own age, drafted into a war to fulfill a maniac's dream. All of them waiting on his next word. "Us. NERV. If we help, we _save the world._ More than fighting an Angel, more than holding off Third Impact. If we say yes, we open humanity to the _galaxy._ And we become the _face_ of Earth to the galaxy."

There, he thinks. That's his pitch. That's the best he can phrase it. Rubbing the back of his neck, he waits for a response, butterflies in his stomach. "You're hopeless," Asuka says with a roll of her eyes, "I'm in."

"We need to keep him from getting killed," Rei adds, "Again."

Misato snorts and slaps Asuka on the back. "Okay. We need Evas on Earth. Unit-03 and Unit-05 will stay behind. Unit-02 and Unit-00 will go to Mars with Shinji and..." She turns to Mordin. "How long are we talking about? Did it take _five years_ for you to get from wherever he was to here?"

"Took two days," Wrex grunts. He snorts, savoring the look of confusion on Misato's face. "We were busy."

Shinji slaps his hand over his face with a muffled groan. "It's complicated. It's, like-" A grunted breath. "It's like we had a general idea where the apartment was, but the elevator was out and if we went up too many stairs we'd all die."

Misato tilts her head. If looks could in fact kill, Asuka would once more be blaming herself for his death. Rei simply gives him a long, level stare. Ever watching, ever judging. "So it's a long story," he continues, hands up, "I _will_ explain. I promise! Someday!"

But once more, Shinji Ikari finds the reins of narrative ripped from him. Instead, the crowd turns to Misato, who has crossed her arms and stares down both Wrex and Mordin with a fury that makes even the thousand year old Krogan tread cautiously.

"You want _Unit-05, _too? And what happens when the Angels come calling?"

Wrex takes a step back and shoves Mordin forward. "Planned on response! Asked for help." He taps his omnitool, taking a short, sharp breath. "Geth will field Angelic Combat Platforms to assist!"

Misato walks the salarian out, Wrex following with Akagi trailing, shaking her head. "Yeah," Asuka says, "Rei, can we have a moment? I think I need a moment here."

Kensuke finds himself dragged out. Touji, once more showing the wisdom of experience, places his hands on his sister's shoulders and walks her out. "I still wanted to ask him about," Shinji starts, and closes his mouth when he notices blue eyes staring directly at him.

"So." She taps her foot, arms folded. Nominally, normally, he would be searching for escape routes. But he's long ago decided to stop running away. "So you can get from wherever the _Hell_ you were in two days but it took you _five years_ to get back here?"

He rubs the back of his head. "It's complicated." Another sigh. "There wasn't a way to _get_ back." He meets her gaze, a faint smile on his face. "And I'm _needed_ out there. I've given people _hope_ for the first time in a hundred years. And..." He laughs, despite himself.

"Yeah, and I had a list of things I wanted to do if I ever made it back," he says, "Especially with you."

She quirks her lips. The only other presence, either can tell, is the pug faced Evangelion. "Yeah, well, saved my ass. So what was it?"

Shinji takes his life into his own hands, grabs Asuka by the wrist, and yanks her over into a hug. The redhead squeaks, then starts, and finally wraps her arms around him and hugs him back. "Missed you too, Third," she mutters, "And yeah, I had something too."

She reaches up and grabs his nose, squeezing it shut. Shinji gasps, and she goes for the kill, mashing her lips against his and releasing his nose. Rather than the awkward, bored wet fish that the first attempt was five years ago, Asuka grabs the back of his head and goes for it with gusto.

Much to her surprise- and much to her relief- Shinji returns the effort, returns the feeling. His arms wrap around her, tentatively at first, then going just a bit slack and giving her all the information she needs.

She ends it, grinning, and gently pushes him back. "Not bad for a second time," she says, and skips out. Shinji watches her go, tilting his head. And realizes that if anyone had hacked the cameras, he was a _dead man._

* * *

...

* * *

Four petals extend from the cyclopean eye.

_"Creator Lia'Nelzi, the modified barrel of your shotgun is experiencing stress application beyond manufacturer's specifica-"_

The petals flatten against the elongated head.

"_We withdraw our original complaint. You have exceeded the stress application threshold of the barrel."_

**End Chapter 2**


	3. Hunters of Gods

**One **_week later._

Red, as far as the eye can see. Red, the color of blood. Color of war. Color of red sands. Red red sands, far into the horizon and beyond. Like a sea of reddish war blood- "Need to stop monologuing."

Rei Ayanami sighs and urges her partner forward. Which is met, as has become a running _gag_ to her, with Unit-00 flailing through the air and landing with a one footed hop. Next to her- a relative next when referring to sixty meter tall biomechanical monsters, Unit-02 cartwheels through the air to land on one hand before flipping back to its feet. And bouncing again.

Ahead of them, Unit-01 walks at a steady clip. "_Come on, stop playing around."_ Shinji's face floats in front of Rei. Rei bites back a response, which involves the 'Mass Effect Generators' which were wired into their Evangelions, and where he can shove them.

The landscape, the red landscape, passes underneath them. The gold and white Evangelion bounces, its single red eye rotating in its socket to take in more and more of the alien horizon and empty hills, towards the structures in the distance. "_So, Cydonia, right?"_ Asuka's face appears on the screen next to Rei, helmet masking her features and muffling her voice, blue eyes shining beneath the quarian-modeled faceplate, "_This is where the plot device is?"_

Shinji sighs, eyes rolling beneath his helmet. Behind him, the girl sits in her raised seat, four eyes glowing in a row beneath her helm. "_It's supposed to be incredibly advanced and massively powerful. If anything's going to give us an edge against the Angels and whatever else is out there, the Crucible would-"_

Rei spots it first. She taps the handle on her butterfly control and the view in her eye zooms in. Pyramids- not just dunes shaped like pyramids but carved stone shaped like a pyramid. One of them moves, breaking apart. Shattering upwards and outwards in a plume of dust.

"Company-" she starts, but the rest of the warning is lost when something slams into the ground in front of them. The shockwave knocks Unit-00 off its feet and sends Unit-02 cartwheeling to the side.

Only Unit-01 is left standing, facing something-

Humanoid. But as tall as the Evangelion. Bipedal, black lined with gold, its arms ending with golden, two fingered fists. It clenches one and the face becomes clear in the haze- a sloped and elongated inverted triangle, eight eyes in two rows of four and all glowing gold. It moves- flows into the strike, a palm to Unit-01's chest knocking it off its feet before dragging its fist along the ground.

Then the fist slams into Unit-01's chest. The ground beneath them shakes, then flattens, then _presses_ down into stone. And Unit-01 is launched into the sky.

"_Is that an Angel?!"_

Rei's eyes go wide. "No. It's an _Evangelion!"_

* * *

**Chapter 3:**

**Hunters of Gods**

* * *

_**One week ago.**_

"My mother said that the one truth, throughout all of time, is that every civilization will believe that what came before them was better." Vessae's gloved hand hangs from Shinji's own. The vented light of the sun gives the Geofront an ethereal glow while the prothean child pulls him along. "Miss Amira would go on about the Protheans. A lot of what she said, we'd say about the Insunnanon."

The girl turns to her companion. "Shinji?"

He hums an acknowledgement. She smiles, squeezing the hand tighter. "What was it like, when you first were absorbed by the Eva?"

He sighs. Tries not to remember exact details. How to put it, he thinks.

* * *

_..._

* * *

_Mom I'm in the Eva._

_**I'm proud of you Shinji.**_

_Mom are you the Eva?_

_**Yes now we can be a family again.**_

* * *

...

* * *

"Weird," he manages. He scratches his nose and the girl lets the subject drop. He moves with an unsteady gait- the black pants and the jacket are his size, but it's been years since he had _clothes_, and not some form of armor or plugsuit. Some things take getting used to.

They walk along the rolling hills of the Geofront together for long moments of silence, Vessae offering the occasional bit of odd wisdom. All of which makes him guess, more and more, what life was like for her. If she had to become so philosophical at a young age.

"No one wants to believe that they're in a golden age," Vessae continues, "No one wants to believe there is nothing better than what they made." The girl looks down, the quarian helm masking her face, save for the four golden glowing eyes. "Mother's peers. They spoke of the Insunnanon like gods."

He nods, squeezing her hand. Behind the mask, he sees the hints of a smile. "I wonder if the next group'll look at us the same?" he asks.

"I think they will pay special attention to your trials with the opposite gender." Shinji squeaks, turns, and meets the gaze of Lia's mother. Glowing blue eyes narrow behind the faceplate and Shinji tries to shrink. He knows. He knows why.

Then Fai looks past his shoulder and spies the destination Shinji was walking to. The small hill with a cabin, and the field of well kept melons. "Ah! Is this the place you told me about?"

She walks past him, an unconscious sway in her step. Shinji trails behind, trying- and failing- to keep his gaze from wandering.

* * *

...

* * *

The screen flickers and goes static. It gives a panning view, of a city made of domes and arches. No towers, no sky or starscrapers reaching for the sky. The name of the world prints on the screen below the view: **Dekuuna. Dry Season Capital.**

The creature is massive, slumped over. A megascale version of the inhabitants of the world, with thick hide, massive arms, shrieking through vertical mouth slits. It moves, a mobile mountain of flesh and power, eyes glowing with every cross-shaped explosion that blasts against the blue dome around the city.

Saucer shaped craft fire off round after round. Missiles explode ineffectively against the golden wall surrounding the creature. It roars, closer and closer to the city- excavations in later days would reveal the hollow cavity beneath it.

And then a ship descends- different from the defense craft. A larger craft- quarian in design, a cruiser hovering by the crackling blue fields around it. It comes to a stop, opening the massive bay doors beneath it, and a purple and green giant drops out.

It hangs from the cord, an umbilical cable connected from its back to the hovering cruiser. It lands in a crouch, the green lines along its limbs glowing. The Angel turns, stomping away from the city. Tilting its head, it flaps its mouths and screams. Charging, it tears up great furrows of dirt and rock, roaring and bearing down on the giant.

And bounces off a golden barrier. Its own eyes go wide. Realization comes to it, right when the barrier flashes and the walls of force surrounding the Angel shatter.

It is given all of a moment to realize what has happened. Then the knife deploys from the purple giant's jet strip, and the Evangelion rams it into the red core at the center of its chest.

The image pauses. Folding her arms, still in her bathrobe, Asuka stares at the screen with a blank expression. She considers, alternatively, critiquing the Third on his technique in dealing with the angel, and locking her door and turning off her phone.

"So," she mutters, "That's...the first one, right?" She taps the remote. A collection of discs lies on the table in front of the widescreen television. A gift from the quarian girl- the one who practically slapped a sign on the idiot. "Yep. First Angel he killed."

Quirking her lips, she taps the menu button on the remote. Lists come up. Videos, scenes. Numbers. Numbers which keep increasing. "How many Angels _did_ that idiot kill?"

She taps her fingers- first on the armrest of her couch, then on her thigh. Glancing to her side, she stares at the box- the second thing she found at the door of her apartment this morning. Not from the girl who the idiot tore out of an angel or something something. This one was from one of the _other_ alien women who seemed to be part of his fan club. A blue haired woman. With hair tentacles.

Shaking her head, she opens the box and finds a small, utilitarian bracelet. An ugly, utilitarian bracelet. Sighing, she grabs it and snaps it on her wrist. "Alien art or something? I mean, if this is flirting it's not very good at _hoshit!"_

Because then a ball of orange light wraps itself around her fist, and a gauntlet appears around her entire forearm.

She stares at it- the construct, the shimmering light- for a long moment. Then she twitches her fingers, and the television turns on. Another twitch, and it turns off. Then the lights turn off.

"Okay," she says, "What _else_ does it do?"

* * *

...

* * *

When the relationship of Rei Ayanami (First Child) and Kensuke Aida (1,902,873rd Child) progressed past the stage of hidden rendezvous, hugging, and bad poetry, Rei explained to him that her father, for lack of a better word, was Gendo Ikari. And as they were now in a relationship, he needed to meet her father.

To this extent, she laid down rules on what to do and not do whilst In The Presence of Gendo Ikari.

First. Do not allow Gendo Ikari to inject you with anything. Even if he insists it is a placebo. He will be lying.

Second. Keep eyes on Gendo Ikari at all times. If you can see Gendo Ikari, he can see you. If you cannot see Gendo Ikari, you may be seconds away from meeting your Nephilim clone horde.

Third. Make sure your memories are your own before and after you meet Gendo Ikari.

Kensuke remembers there was a fourth rule, but can't remember the specifics. Walking into the former mausoleum, he looks up. And up and up, into the eighteen eyes of the biomechanical megagod that stares back at him past the opened fourth wall of the laboratory. Apparently it's Unit-09 maintenance day, he thinks.

"Doctor Ikari?" He glances, side to side. Tries to find a bead on the shifty bastard. "Doctor Ikari, you said you wanted to talk with me?"

Sparks fly from the side of the massive face. A platform lowers, and Gendo Ikari raises the mask of his faceplate. Powering down the blowtorch, he steps off the platform and trots over. "Yes. Yes I did."

He walks to a table, one to the right side of the room. Kensuke follows him, keeping eyes on him at all times. Gendo taps the table, and the table splits, a blast of cool air in time with the plastic frame of the bottle holders, and Gendo hands Kensuke a beer.

"So," he starts, "Rei is going into space." Gendo pops the top of the bottle. "I want you to go with her."

Kensuke nods. "To protect her?"

For all his faults, for all his awkwardness, there is one reason why Gendo Ikari has not dissolved Kensuke Aida in a vat of acid. That reason is simple; Kensuke can make Gendo laugh. Which he does now, long and hard.

"Oh _God_ no," he says, and pats the young man on the shoulder, "I want her to keep focused, and keeping you from being eaten by space worms will help that. Also, I find you two _adorable."_

Well, Kensuke thinks, at least he is honest. In that, encapsulated, is the healthy relationship between the two. "Makes more sense." Kensuke shrugs. "From what I can understand, it's not just Mars and back. Ear to the floor says that it's going to someplace called the '_Citadel.'_ Not sure what it is, but my people tell me it's important to the visitors."

Gendo nods, sipping his beer. "Should I remind you of the rules?"

Moreso than guidelines for dealing with the mad scientist, Kensuke has internalized the rules for dealing with his beautiful daughter. "If at any point there is background music, contact you immediately."

A grunt of acknowledgement. Kensuke continues.

"I have one. If there are two, contact you immediately."

Another nod. "If Rei asks me to become one with her, contact you immediately."

"Correct." Gendo raises his bottle. "Vigilance first, but we've been at this for a while. What's the worst that can happen?"

* * *

**...**

* * *

**Mars. Right now.**

Red eyes blink, and Rei watches Unit-01 retreat into the atmosphere, and not under its own power. The black giant, the _Evangelion,_ stamps its foot to the ground. A golden spark- a directed _AT Field,_ and the pyramids shatter, bricks rising into the sky before a blast wave sends them flying away.

From one of them, a skeletal giant of silver and crimson leaps towards them. In flight, it twists, the cyclopean _thing_ wrapping around itself, folding itself into an elongated and flat shape. It snaps its limbs inward and its armor flows like liquid, becoming aerodynamic and smooth. Bursts of blue explode from its back and underside, and it shoots towards them.

The black giant raises a foot and the wind flies under, catching its foot and shooting them both towards the sky- and towards Shinji.

"_Oh son of a bitch! After them!"_ Rei inwardly agrees with Asuka. There is panic, and then there is assessment. An unknown Evangelion has attacked and launched Unit-01 into the sky, just over a week after they confirmed that Shinji is alive.

However, there is also another matter.

"There are more than two pyramids."

Then there is another blur. Two more shapes launching from ancient tombs. One lands fist first in front of Unit-02. A massive, humanoid shape with expanded and heavily armored arms, who's impact liquifies the ground and sends Unit-02 flipping end over end.

And another, a white giant trimmed with gold, eyeless and faceless, and bearing a sword which sings through the air. Rei narrows her eyes. Now she is _annoyed._ She reaches down and gets the attention of her partner. An acknowledgement, an annoyance. "Seraphic buster, first wing." She grips the controls. "Show these boys some _discipline."_

Golden light surrounds the arms of Unit-00, and with both hands the Eva catches the blade.

* * *

...

* * *

In the day since he arrived back on Earth, Shinji was given a quick update on who lived, who died. One thing that was stressed to him was that in regards to Kaji, there was no body. So when he approached the cabin by the watermelon patch, and the door opened, he half expected the unshaven man to come out.

He was more than a little surprised when Mari walked out to greet them.

Clad in overalls and a shirt, she waves to Shinji and his alien friend. The brunette trots over, hands in her pockets before kicking a ho and catching it when it flips up. "Hey. Didn't know Kaji told you about this place."

He rubs the back of his head. "Yeah, Misato told me about it." He blinks. Cocks his head. "You knew Kaji?"

Mari nods, idly twirling the gardening tool. "Yep. Outside've my dad, he's probably the only guy at NERV who knew I existed." She waves to Fai. "Hey. So are you his alien girlfriend or his alien girlfriend's mom?"

Fai cocks her hips and grins beneath her mask. "Yes."

Shinji sighs. Well, he thinks, the worst thing that can happen is that he's being _watched_ during this.

* * *

...

* * *

First, she figured out that the device- the _omnitool-_ had the ability to cause things to catch fire from a distance. Then she discovered that it had a _database_, and spent several hours pouring over the wealth of information which she could for some reason _read._ Like magical translation, which she will study later.

Still in her bathrobe, the coffee on her end table long since cooled, Asuka pours over entire books worth of text on biology, social customs, and _alien civilizations._ This, she believes, is the _best thing ever._

The door knocks and Asuka swears vengeance. "S'open," she calls.

It slides open. The alien who practically grabbed the idiot's ass stands on the other side. "So," Lia says, "Someone gave you an omnitool."

She walks in, a long case in one hand. Resting it against the door, she shuts the door behind her and waits. Waits for seconds, going into minutes. Finally, Asuka gets the hint and the screen in front of her is banished with a thought. "Yes?"

"We have time until we have to get over to the next planet," Lia responds, "I figured we could take some time to _talk."_

The redhead stares at the quarian- her _competition_ if she were to admit she were competing over something. Lia folds her arms and cocks her hips, and for a moment Asuka sees what the idiot likes. Also notices that she does the same action. "So," she finally says, "Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Not unless you're trying to kill me."

Asuka purses her lips, works her jaw. "Riiiiight. Dextro chirality something something." She idly cracks her knuckles. "Read about that. So, how _do_ you suck face with the idiot, anyway?"

"Very carefully-" Lia's eyes go wide. Her mouthpiece glows for a long moment. "_Who told you about that?!"_

Asuka smirks and chalks one up in her win column. Unfolding one two fingered fist, Lia waves it around, as if grasping things from the air. "Well, if you must know, he's actually quite good at it when you don't hold his nose closed."

And then Asuka's face turns bright red and _she_ sputters. "_Who told you about that?!"_

The redhead stomps on her heel and turns, walking towards the open door by the framed picture and slamming it shut. Unbidden, but not uninvited, Lia walks in. She looks over the couch, the frayed and older thing- wooden frame, patches on the mattress. A single chair and a small table against the wall, an attached kitchen in the corner that sees...less than regular use.

Lia taps her wrist and waves her omnitool over the room. She quirks her lips underneath her helmet and reaches up, pulling back the hood and tapping a pair of depressions beneath her chin. Two bursts of compressed air and she pulls, long and thick strands of dark indigo falling out of her helmet. She cranes her neck, pulling the metal and glass frame off, and takes a moment to blink gold flecked eyes in the florescent light.

"Thought you died if you took those off." Asuka slams the door, walking out in a beige NERV uniform. The redhead folds her arms and gets a good look at her rival-if-she-was-actually-competing-for-something.

"LCL boosts my immune system." She quirks her lips- faint lavender shade to her skin, dark purple on the lips themselves. She twitches her nose, wiggling it side to side. "Also, when Shinji dove into the Angel to pull me out, it sort of helped."

Asuka slumps down onto the couch, arms folded and face set. She cocks her chin to the rolling chair by the desk. Taking the hint, Lia pulls it over, sits down, and mirrors the pilots perfectly.

"So," Asuka starts, "Let's start with the basics." Lia cocks an eyebrow and waits. "How do you get around the hard lightspeed limit?"

Lia smiles and pulls up a screen.

* * *

...

* * *

Vessae has fallen victim to curiosity, examining the watermelons while Fai keeps an eye on her. Sitting on the bench outside the cabin, Shinji finds the iced tea has turned lukewarm in his hand, forgotten. Considering how long it's been since he has _had_ iced tea, he isn't surprised.

"So. What'd you miss most about Earth?"

Sitting next to him, Mari watches the older quarian woman and the prothean child. To her eyes, nothing looks out of place. A mother fussing over a kid, pointing out what to touch, what not to touch.

"I dunno," Shinji responds. He words his jaw and sighs. "Milk tea? School? The penguin?" He rests his hands in his lap. "Or do I go all sappy and say it was everyone?"

Mari shrugs. "Wanna be honest? How long did you even _know_ anyone here?"

Shinji scratches the back of his head. He opens his mouth. Closes it. "Yeah," he says. "Yeah. A few months." He looks out to the field, watching Fai pointing to the veins in leaves, helping Vessae identity plants, flowers. "I've known Fai for five and a half years."

Mari props her elbow on his shoulder, leaning against him. "So, the question is- _are_ you caught up about the princess? And if so..." She turns to him with a cat like smile. "Why? It's not like you two really _got along,_ to be honest."

He scratches the back of his head again. Works his jaw. Focuses on the girl- the child so much like him- actually given the time to be a child. "I jumped into a volcano for her." Slumping his shoulders, he shakes his head. "I...look, I _knew_ that somehow, we'd have to find a way to Earth. As much as we could do, one Evangelion wasn't going to save the galaxy."

He taps his left wrist. The omnitool folds into existence around his arm. "I knew that I was doing good out there. I'd saved...civilizations, not just cities." He sighs. "I haven't really _missed_ Earth in a while."

Mari nods. "When'd that start?"

An image appears. A great shape, a five armed metal star hanging in the ether. "Okay, context." Each arm is covered in lights. Each connects to a central ring. "This is the _Citadel._ It's the center of the galaxy, politically. It's...many times the size of Tokyo-3 and it's the home to millions of people."

Teeth grind. "I'd been helping for almost two years. I'd just turned sixteen. An Angel attacked. I couldn't get to the Eva in time, so Lia grabbed some experimental mecha that the salarians had built and attacked the Angel. It disabled the mecha, and it ate the mech, with her inside, to fool the anti-angel defenses of the Citadel.

"And then it almost killed me, and almost killed Unit-01- my mother. And..."

* * *

...

* * *

"Give. _Her. __**Back."**_

A red eye opens. The green lines of the armor shift to crimson. With creaking metal and tearing ligament, the giant rises from its grave, embedded in the Presidium Tower. A single step forward and the entire structure- not just the tower, not just the Presidium, the Citadel in tis entirety- trembles.

A second step and space and time yield, a tear within it forming above the purple titan. The hot matter at the edges glow and become a halo.

A third step and the locks around the jaw tear. The roar- more than an animal, more than a man- echoes through the Citadel. High pitched and short, it makes every soul look towards the direction of the Eva. And it makes the Angel turn. The white serpent warbles, its long tail sweeping through the city blocks. Whatever purpose it came to the Citadel for, whatever reason, it is forgotten.

The Angel accepts the cry of challenge, and once more appears before Unit-01. Like before, it appears suddenly. Like before, it appears with blades unfurled and the light in its eyes baring flame and death.

But this time, it is answered by the scarlet glow of Unit-01's own eyes, and the blast when sends the wyrm flying across the Presidium. It slams through the ancient krogan statue and shatters it. It sends the reservoir outwards in great waves from its impact.

* * *

...

* * *

In the Presidium Tower, Wrex watches with an open jaw, silent for the first time in an age. The Asari Councilor peaks out from behind the Krogan. The Salarian has since passed out. Black and violet colony markings already dripping from sweat and sprinklers, the turian councillor twitches his mandibles and watches. Trying to process.

"No no no no." Fai holds the omnitool up, lines of data, graphs, images running over it she understands but few others do. "This is _not_ possible. It's drawing power from outside the phase space. The entire power system of the armor is shot and it shouldn't be operating, but-"

"Did." The turian blinks. "Did the Evangelion just become an _Angel?"_

Fai shakes her head. The crack running down her faceplate gives the barest hint at her face underneath, already gone pale. "No. Not an Angel. A _God."_

* * *

...

* * *

"_So Unit-01 went berserk. You beat up the Angel." Mari tilts her head. "What happened then?"_

* * *

...

* * *

One hand comes down, grabbing the Angel's head and squeezing. The creature- _Odylis_ he would learn- shrieks before the skull shatters. Only the Core remains, embedded within the white head. Unit-01 brings its hand down- to shatter it, they believed at first. To end it, to exact vengeance.

But it does not. Instead, the flat of its palm hovers over the crimson crystal. Unit-01 begins to rise. The Angel begins to rise. Everyone feels themselves _begin to rise._

The halo expands and opens up. A great void in the sky, ringed in white. "This." Fai looks at her screen, then at the giants. "This _isn't possible._ The Evangelion isn't just working, it's entering a new _phase state."_

It ripples outwards. Great furrows of red light open up on the ground beneath the giants, an x-shaped scar rising upwards. "Give it to me straight, Fai," Wrex rumbles, "How bad is this?"

Fai is silent for several moments. The councillors watch, those still conscious. Crowds gather at the balconies and windows- previously hiding, taking shelter, now watching what unfolds before them.

"Unit-01, the Evangelion," she says, "Based on what I've gleamed from the core. It's entering a new state of existence. One which our world is not equipped to handle." The screen folds out into a map of the galaxy. "And it is using the Mass Relays to propagate, expanding outwards and outwards until everything is reduced, reborn, and remade." Three fingered hands clench into fists. "It is the same event that _ended_ Rannoch. This is _Impact."_

Wrex nods, silent for a long moment. "Then I'm gonna go talk with the kid." He steps off the balcony, and begins running down the hanging catwalks towards Unit-01.

* * *

...

* * *

Even as the walkways rise, the sheer force of the _event_ tearing at hinges.

Even as the weight on his soul becomes heavier and heavier. Even as he pushes against the streaming crowd that walks the other way. Even as visions of his own past, visions of those he's lost, visions of those he hates play before him, Wrex strides towards the boy.

* * *

...

* * *

"_So what did he say?"_ _Mari asks._

* * *

...

* * *

Through the tunnel of pain, through the hallways of light, he pushes forward. Without anything, without reason, he moves forward. Through fire, through agony, he reaches. Reaches out, reaches down.

"_Kid. Hope you can hear me." _Red eyes snap open. "_I know what you're feeling. I know what you're doing."_

Teeth grind. He feels the weight on his shoulders. Feels his throat raw from the screams. From the blood.

"_Half everyone here wants me to tell you to stop. Think everyone else's scrambling to direct a fleet on you."_ Hands grip the butterfly controls. Metal twists and leather creaks. "_And that's not what I'm here for. I know what you've told me. I can only guess what it's done to you. But what I'm here for is to tell you to __**do this.**__ But don't do it __**stupid."**_

A faint gasp. He pushes forward. The chair, the plug, all gone now. Walking, crawling through the darkness. He can feel himself _burning_ but he drives forward.

"_You're doing this because...hell I don't know why. You do this because you want to be praised. You do this because you want someone to tell you they're proud of you."_ There is silence. Long and hard, white hands gripping the shadows. "_Hell, my own father tried to kill me. My own clan thinks I'm an idiot. I've put all that behind me, though anyone could. But kid. Shinji. I've told you my story. I've told you about the Genophage. I'm probably never gonna have kids._

_ "But I'd be damn proud to call you one of mine."_

The core of the angel craters. Eyes glowing white, streams of light flow from the Evangelion's back into the hanging void.

Inside, behind the walls, Shinji presses his hands against the divider and pulls. He tears at the ink, he tears at the barriers. He can hear her telling him to leave- telling him that she _isn't worth_ this.

He reaches through. The core burns him. It tears at him, leaving rivets of red over his arm. Claws at him, tears into his skin and his soul. But he pushes through, pushes in. And finds her within the darkness.

"I know I'm never going to see my homeworld again," he coughs, "And I know I'm never going home." It claws at him and tears like paper, the presence of the Angel. Trying to push him back as he pushes forward. "But that doesn't matter. You're my home. You're my world." He can't tell if it's tears or blood running down his face. "_Keelah'selai."_

She stares at him for a long moment. He can see the smile spreading on her face. "_Keelah'selai, bosh'tet."_ And she takes his outstretched hand. With a pull, with a yell, her takes her out, pulling them both through the shadows as the Angel shatters beneath them. And-

* * *

...

* * *

"And then what?" Mari nudges his shoulder. "Hot makeout session in the entry plug?"

Shinji shakes his head. "Mom...came to my rescue then," he responds, "She pulled me and Lia down into the Core. We were trapped there for about a month." He runs a hand through his hair, giving off a long pent up sigh. "It's...complicated."

Mari snerks. "Can't imagine why." She shrugs. "Well, gotta say, after everything I've heard about you, you're a lot less whiny and apologetic than everyone said you were. Well, than Asuka said you were."

Shinji shrugs. He turns to her, working his jaw. "I...can't help but wonder who _exactly_ you are. Who _are_ you? I mean, how did you even _get_ to NERV?"

Mari grins, cat like. "Ask your father."

"Indeed."

Shinji starts, turns, and finds that _suddenly_ Gendo Ikari was right there. "Ah-"

Gendo folds his gloved hands behind him, staring down his son. "Yui has told you much," he states, "But she hasn't told you _everything."_ The glasses reflect sunlight, masking the eyes. "Shinji. _I am your father."_

"I..." Shinji tilts his head. "I...know that, but-"

Like a serpent, the arm stabs outwards and the extended finger points to Mari. "I'm also _hers."_

And both Vessae and Fai are alerted by Shinji's high pitched, terrified scream.

* * *

...

* * *

Shinji whirls, standing, first on his father and then on Mari. The girl folds her arms and winks at him. As if someone probably coached her on the incestual tones of the relationship he had with Rei. Like his father. Their father.

"Wait," he says, finger raised, "Wait. Wait. You said you weren't _incest."_

As if summoned by the magic word, the answer and information comes in the eager and chipper tones of one mad scientist, manifesting through her chosen form of a happy fun ball. "_Oh, you're thinking sibling incest. She's more __**maternal incest."**_

Yui appears over Shinji's shoulder, rose red line bouncing side to side. "_I mean, it's closer than Rei. Back when I was pregnant, I started thinking about the risks involved and yadda yadda and so I made a backup!"_ Shinji slowly turns to his mother, wondering about a response. Wondering if there is some _other, deeper_ level of crazy he can accuse his mother of being.

"_Shinji, dear. Why would I only have a plan that involved me never having a physical body again? I mean, Naoko went good and messed up chances of my original body, so..."_ The ball hovers over to Mari, who cocks an eyebrow and folds her arms. "_Sooooo I made a new body! With some samples from Gendo, some nice developments I thought you would have..."_ The red line of the sphere shifts down. "_And some traits I took from Kyoko!"_

Shinji stares at his mother. He turns to his father, who gives an apologetic shrug. And Shinji taps his omnitool, the sphere disappearing, and a large sign saying '_muted'_ appearing on it before disappearing.

"You," he says, pointing at his father, "Owe me some _god damned answers."_

Gendo thrusts his hands in his pockets. Nodding, he cocks his head in the direction of the NERV pyramid. "That I do. Mari, the robot was looking for you. Said it wanted input on modifying Unit-05." He turns back to his son. "Let me buy you a beer."

* * *

...

* * *

Sometime around five years ago. A handful of weeks after the death of the Third Child and the loss of Evangelion Unit-01.

The pilots are assembled. The command staff assembled. All of them, in the ampitheatre that serves as a staging area, analysis room, and debriefing center. At the front of the stage there is the new girl- clad in a green and pink plugsuit, glasses on her nose, and pigtails hanging behind her back.

Gendo Ikari stands next to her. The old, haggard subcommander sits in a chair next to them, looking all his years.

"This is the Fourth Child, Mari Makinami," Ikari explains. He waits for responses. Katsuragi analyzes the girl- normally closed off, she seems more relaxed than normal. Surveillance has reported that she has made steps towards approaching the Second Child. Sohryu, as always, resembles more a tightly bound ball of rage than a normal teenager. Rei stares at the girl. Trying to pick out familiar features.

"She is not in the Marduk Report," Ikari continues, "Her existence- or at least, her _actual_ identity was known to exactly two people prior to the destruction of the Twelfth Angel." White gloved hands wring behind him. "Inspector Ryoji, who had figured out her existence, and Doctor Yui Ikari."

That gets a reaction. Katsuragi blinking in recognition. Akagi sitting up straighter. He _did_ have a conversation with her about what was going to happen today. Now she knows _why._ "The Fourth Child is the heavily modified clone of Doctor Yui Ikari. She was created without my knowledge by Doctor Ikari prior to the Third Child's birth to serve as a replacement if he died."

He can feel his toes curl in his shoes. The night he realized this was...not pleasant. He will have someone come by with drywall. Plaster. New windows. "It has become obvious that NERV's mission has been compromised by the machinations of Doctor Ikari. Subcommander Fuyutsuki and I have discussed the implications of the matter and we have come to the conclusion that we are _both_ compromised."

"And hence," Kozou finally says, leaning on the armrest of the chair, "Commander Ikari and I are both resigning. Effective immediately."

* * *

...

* * *

Amira holds out a hand. The blue skinned woman- or close enough to a woman, as it was explained to Rei- stands in front of the opened armor of Unit-02. Several soldiers stand behind Rei, rifles aimed at the alien. Next to Rei, another of the aliens- Mordin, as he hurriedly would explain- records the event with his omnitool.

"Melding similar to synchronization. Contact between minds allows determination of presence in Core. Asari use melding for contact _and_ for reproduction." A short, sharp intake of breath. "Ikari may have _large_ family." He balls his hand and coughs. Rei stares at him.

"Accurate," she states. A groan, a honk, and a warble. Amira stumbles back from the red eva, nodding.

"The...presence in is there stubstantial!" She shakes her head. "I mean the _presence in there is_ _sub_stantial!" She rolls her neck, leaning on the catwalk. "Right! Always get a little wobbly wibbly when I do that. But I can confirm something very real and very aware!"

The girl alien claps her hands together. "So! Which one's next!"

Mordin stares at her. He taps his omnitool, mouthing an observation. "Fascinating," Rei observes, "Then do the Asari view Ikari as-"

"Yes." Mordin nods. "Believe best term is..." A short, sharp intake of breath. "Desirable."

The Asari turns, walking backwards. The thick, elevated heels of her bodysuit click against the metal catwalks and she cradles her head in her hands. "He really is. Considering how the Angel works and how many worlds he's saved, he must have a lot of practice with melding." She smiles, cheeks tinging lavender. "The Evangelion is very lucky."

Mordin balls his hand and coughs. Rei blinks and says nothing. "Anyway! Doctor Ikari was busy so I couldn't give a baseline, but if Unit-02 is any indication the Evangelions may be very well adjusted!" She turns on one heel, walking towards the opening, hangar-sized doors. "She was really glad to have someone to talk to, and I'm sure Doctor Sohryu will really appreciate the communications link!"

The doors grind open, revealing the silent, yellow and white form of Unit-00. Its red, cyclopean optic shifts in its socket. Next to it, the pillar of steel and stone stands in contrast to the uniform cages of the other Evangelions, as tall as the Evangelion and glowing with faint red lines. Amira tilts her head. Mordin runs his omnitool towards the pillar, and his eyes go wide.

Rei gives off a soft smile and shakes her head. "Would prefer you did not attempt contact with Unit-00. She is," She considers her words. A small sniff. "Antisocial."

Rei walks past her evangelion. Amira stares at the giant, then follows with Mordin on her heels. The NERV soldiers follow in suit. Such things have since become old hat for them. "Unit-00 appreciates its privacy," Rei explains, "Long story. Will explain later."

They enter the cage of Unit-01. Much of the powered armor has been exposed- turrets built into its arms folded out, the turbine that serves as the power source of the purple eva's armor hanging from the ceiling above. The back of the neck has opened, revealing a folded out flying wing and inactive engines. More thought put into the pilot's safety, Rei observes.

Commander Akagi has already ordered similar refits of the other Evangelions.

Amira walks to the exposed core of Unit-01, extending a hand. Her eyes go liquid and black, blue waves flowing over her for a brief moment. Then her hand drops, and she turns to the two with cold eyes and a blank stare.

"Doctor Ikari's looked into the abyss," she states, "And she made the abyss her _special friend."_

Mordin nods. "We already know that," Rei adds.

* * *

...

* * *

A heavy sigh and he stares through amber lenses at the half drained beer mug. "I've never been good at fatherly advice. But I will tell you this." He looks across the table at his son. "Don't sleep with crazy women. I did that. Two crazy women." He shakes his head. "Honestly, if I had a time machine, I would have _tapped _Sohryu. Hard."

Shinji stares at his father for long moments. The cantina continues its activity around them, father and son sitting alone at the table. "Sohryu as in..."

"Pilot Sohryu's mother." Gendo Ikari rubs his chin. "I ended up sleeping with Doctor Akagi."

"You mean her or her mother...?"

"Yes."

Shinji winces. These are things he does not need to know. He dives in anyway. "So compared to everyone else you've slept with, Doctor Akagi is _sane?" _Yes, he thinks. Back to the thought of his father having sex. Which he doesn't get enough of when he merges memories with his mother.

"So. You decided to _save_ the world," Shinji continues, "Because-"

"Because _fuck you,_ that's why," Gendo responds. He sips his beer, wiping his lip with the back of his hand, "Biggest middle finger I could give to the people- like your mother- who wanted me to end it on their terms."

Shinji nods, a slow exhale. "I was also listening when you were talking with Mari." Shinji looks up at his father and the smile on the older man's face. "Almost ending the local universe because you had to pull the woman you cared about out of a core."

And Gendo presses a pair of orange tinted glasses into Shinji's hand.

"I hate you," Shinji breathes.

"I hated my father too." Gendo only smiles wider. "_Your move."_

Shinji stares at the older man. He leans forward, slumping his shoulders and glaring at Gendo Ikari's grinning face. "So then." He sighs, dragging his finger along the lip of the beer mug, "That's it? You've given up on getting back together with Mom? I mean, her entire plan was pretty much _riding_ on you pining for her."

Gendo shrugs. "Oh, I still do. I loved your mother. I just realized she's batshit insane, but that doesn't make me love her any less." He taps his fingers together and pushes his glasses up his nose. "Just, if I do reunite with her, I do it on _my_ terms."

Shinji lets the words sink in. Ponders the implications.

"Are you planning to upload yourself into an Evangelion?"

Gendo shakes his head. "No."

Shinji exhales. "Thank _God._ One of you is sane."

* * *

...

* * *

Night passes, the black sky and stars giving way to a faint blue glow reflected off the glass towers of the fortress city. Craft shaped like metal hornets descend, flanking flying wings. The soft light of the engines marks their passage, wide streets opening to reveal hangars and landing bays.

Hours pass and the sun rises, marking a new day.

Amongst the lower, more humble buildings of Tokyo-3, the light hits the window of an apartment bedroom on a top floor. Within it, a prodigal son of the city lies, passed out and half dressed on a bed, drooling into a pillow and snoring. Long moments become minutes, become hours. A chiming alarm clock is ignored, a glowing omnitool display flashing impotently.

Eventually, he opens blue eyes on his own, rolling onto his back and staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. Reaching out, he waves his hand at the wall. No display comes up, no messages play for him. No music starts and no view of space comes up.

His hand rests on the sheets, and eyes open slowly to take in the unfamiliar ceiling. The very unfamiliar ceiling. He sits up, glancing side to side. Then out the window, taking in, _drinking in_ the skyline of Tokyo-3. He slides down the bed and stands, sprinting out of the bedroom and into the open door, and weeps with joy.

The door to the apartment opens, and Rei Ayanami walks in. Clad in a floral dress and light jacket against the morning chill, she listens to the sounds and picks up her pace. And she finds Shinji on his knees, hugging the toilet and crying.

"Should I ask?"

Shinji doesn't turn. "I was the only human. You have no idea how much I've missed normal bathrooms."

He slides off of the porcelain altar, climbing to his feet. Balling a fist, he coughs, turning to his sister. "So." He coughs again. "I didn't expect you to be here _early."_

Rei stares at him, corner of her mouth quirking up. "I live in this building." She savors the look of confusion and pounces. Metaphorically. "Did you think that nothing changed in five years outside of administrative musical chairs?"

He nods, rubbing the back of his neck. Eyes glancing, up and down. Questions obvious in the shade of blue.

"How much do you know?" she asks, softly.

"Pretty much everything," he breathes, "About you, I mean."

Rei nods. "You are wondering." She folds her arms, cocks her head. "You are wondering if I am the same Rei you know from before."

Shoulders slump, hands balling and uncurling. "Yeah," he admits.

"Even though he's no longer Commander, our father isn't a sentimental person. Outside of our mother." She cocks her head, quirking her lip. "He wouldn't place priority on memories about interpersonal experience. I wouldn't remember small moments." And then the corners of her mouth rise. "I've been smiling more. Just like you suggested."

She barely gets the sentence out before he grabs her shoulders and pulls her into a hug. Rei rests her head on his shoulder, patting him on the back. "I honestly thought everyone _died,_" he whispers, "I thought that I'd come back to Earth and everything would be gone, or changed."

"It came close, a few times." She feels his lips press against the top of her head. He has gotten _tall_, she muses. "We managed. I'd say you dying was a kick in the ass we needed."

He disengages, slowly. Smiling warmly, brightly, wider than she'd ever seen him in the scant few months they were co-pilots in the Angel War. "So, you live here?" he asks, "Alone?"

She shakes her head. "Sort of. I have my own apartment. But I share it with the one next to mine."

He cocks his head. "Oh. You mean Asuka?"

She waggles her eyebrows. "I'm not dating _Asuka."_ She turns and walks out of the bathroom. Confusion settles on Shinji's face for a moment. Then becomes surprise. Then realization. Then open mouth amazement, for he has truly realized the impossible.

"You have a _boyfriend?"_

* * *

...

* * *

Kensuke Aida feels the itch in his nose, brings up his hand, and sneezes. Scratching his nose, he glances side to side, then back at the floating screen in front of him. Tapping on the keys, the massive screen floating overhead reads data, blueprints, and readings from the sedate form of Unit-02.

"Still want to know what the hip skirt is for." Everyone _did_ notice that Asuka's new plugsuit was non standard. To use understatement. Still red and black, it looked less like latex and more like cloth- still air tight, still sealed, and still body hugging, it nonetheless more resembled clothing. Complete, as Asuka would point out, with a knee-length hip skirt lined with green.

He also said that a bit louder than he intended. Which leads to said pilot leaning down next to him and carrying the intent of horrible things. "It's so I can pass for one of _them,"_ she says, jerking her thumb at Lia, "If they were _blind."_

Lia scoffs, arms folded. Standing next to Misato, the quarian girl lets her disdain for such niggling details show with a digitally carried _snort._ "No one looks below a quarian's _knees._ You'll find them mostly focusing on the hips, even though you're healthier up top than most." She pushes her arms up, propping up her chest. "You might be mistaken for a Captain's daughter."

Asuka whirls, hand locked on Kensuke's head. He does not turn, as tempted as he is by Lia's statement of _hips._ "What does _that_ mean?"

"Healthier diet," Lia answers, "Better nutrition." The quarian girl idly examines her gloves. "Ayanami might be mistaken for an _Admiral's _daughter."

Kensuke continues typing- partially from dedication to his job, partially from fear of reprisal, partially from the simple fact that due to his relationship with Rei, Asuka doesn't do that much for him anymore.

Next to Lia, Misato takes a step to the side. Behind her, the large doors of the Central Dogma grind open, and Gendo Ikari swaggers in. Hands in his pockets, glasses on his nose, he pays little attention to the other humans inhabiting the bridge. And more attention to the quarian woman walking alongside him. Or more particularly, who's hand is on the crook of his arm.

"Doctor Ikari," Fai _purrs,_ "I would be delighted to accompany you on a tour of NERV when we're done here."

The light on Lia's mouthpiece glows solid for several seconds. Misato works her jaw before rubbing her temples with a put upon sigh. Asuka just turns to Kensuke. "Hey, Aida. We're practically living scifi. What's the chances tab A goes into slot B?"

Kensuke shrugs. "Ask Shinji."

Asuka's lips stretch to a straight line. She narrows her eyes. "If I don't break the parts Rei uses, she has _no_ problem. You know that, right?"

Kensuke kicks off the side of his foot, turning the chair back around and towards his console. Huffing, Asuka stomps off, fixing the barrettes into her hair and towards the catwalk surrounded form of Unit-02.

"Okay," Kensuke announces, "Confirming activation of rig around Unit-02's core. Opening data links with Unit-01. We are ready to wake up Doctor Sohryu."

* * *

...

* * *

The vehicle of choice is a convertible. Not sporty, not sleek. Somewhat boxy and old, rusted around one corner. It simply stands out in her memories- her first car, inherited from her mother, which she brought with her to university. Memories which pass by down the crimson road, the first access point to Unit-02's core.

Memories of the car, she reminds herself. Memories which come and go. Ghosts that she passes on dim recollections of where she grew up, where she blossomed and bloomed, where she studied and where she began her long and mad quest.

Yui considers, contemplates this. The earpiece buzzes and she hears the gruff, guttural voice. "_So the kid's getting along well enough. Looks like he's ready to hop on a shuttle any moment, though." _Wrex considers his words. She hears the scraping of his armor on the metal chair- must be in CIC. "_Still can't get a bead on his dad."_

"Gendo's always been interesting." She smirks. Looks down, and the front of the cassette player becomes a screen, flipping through security feeds at NERV. Shinji leading Rei into a cafeteria and introducing her to the prothean. Gendo inside his laboratory, staring at the face of Unit-09. Katsuragi's daughter- the woman her son had so attached to- watching the experiment and talking with Naoko's daughter. "Everyone is, in some way. Surprised about the AT Field, though. Apparently his isolation's strong enough to manifest physically."

A long, pregnant pause from the other end. "_Really?"_

_ "_No." She smiles. The red becomes a tunnel, then white. Then crimson once more. "I'll have to investigate what that was, honestly. But that's for another time."

The tunnel fades and becomes memories not her own. A great arch of stone- some monument in France, she thinks. She's never been to France, but obviously Kyoko has. "Hmph." She turns the car through a roundabout, traffic streaming like a river. Children play, and she spots a red haired girl. Can't tell if it's Sohryu or her daughter. "If this works, we should put our heads together."

"_You and Sohryu?"_

Yui nods. "She's one of the few people I considered by intellectual equal. Just..." She bites her lip, passing through Paris and into a small town in Germany. "She wasn't as high up as I was. She didn't know the specifics. So she thought the Contact experiment worked _differently."_

_ "So she didn't __**intentionally**__ get herself stuck in an Eva."_

Yui nods. Even if he doesn't see the action, the silence says what needs to be said. "_Well that ought to be interesting,"_ Wrex grunts, "_You have fun. I'll just be here. Being ignored."_

She snickers. "Don't let it get to you, Wrex. Shinji still likes having you around." She works her jaw, passing from this town into another, passing a highlighted school building. "I am curious about Gendo. Even just..._getting_ over me shouldn't have changed him this much."

"_Yeah well."_ A grunt. "_I should go."_

The car comes to a stop in front of a small house. She moves, and the car, the street, disappear. In their place there is now a room with a single spotlight overhead. She hears music- but no creaking. Idly, she imagines the _hanging_ part of Kyoko's memories would be deeper in the Core.

Instead, the music is soft- a waltz, perhaps. She was never much into dance or culture. Science was always what she focused on.

The silhouettes in the distance become more defined- two people engaged in a slow dance. She sees the red hair falling past the shoulders, the blue eyes. The long and frilly nightgown and housecoat, pink and white. Kyoko Zeppelin Sohryu, designer of Unit-02 and it's first victim, dances to soft music with her husband who's name Yui never memorized. Reliving some pleasant memory deep in the solenoid prison.

"Kyoko," Yui says. The music stops. The man freezes.

Kyoko Sohryu looks up, turns to Yui, and walks over. Ghost like, fae like, a spirit through a medium. She tilts her head, smiles.

And then sends Yui's glasses halfway across the room with her opening slap. Rubbing her cheek, Yui shrugs. "I deserved tha-" And is cut off by the slap from Kyoko's opposite hand. No, Yui thinks.

No, fifteen years hasn't really changed her _that_ much. She braces a foot against the ground to power through the next slap that she knows is coming. But it does not. Rather, Kyoko's husband has grabbed her wrist. The spirit, the soul, turns to the figure that she was sure was a figment of her imagination.

"Doctor Sohryu," he says, in a voice more digital than a human's, "_We apologize for the deception."_

And then his features blur, and he becomes _a Geth._

* * *

...

* * *

The rings rotate around the gray walls of the entry plug, providing faint illumination for her. Not that it really matters, what with the light from the screen floating in front of Asuka, listing mechanics, equations, and ratios for faster-than-light travel. Outside muted, the pilot educates herself on how to make physics her bitch.

"Yeah this is bullshit. Your whole faster-than-light travel method relies on _magic space rocks."_ The screen blinks and opens up a second screen to show Lia.

"_Yes. And your giant robot technology is powered by your mother."_

Asuka folds her arms and scoffs. "That's because my mother is _fucking awesome."_

Lia's mouthpiece glows solid for several seconds. "So what's your story?" Asuka glances at the screen. "Your Mom's kind of crazy in the 'works for NERV' sort of way. Any siblings?"

Lia shrugs. "_Nope. Only child. Fleet tended to go for a one-child policy when I was born anyway, what with resources. Think they're allowing three, now, thanks to the bosh'tet."_

A red eyebrow arches. "Doesn't translate. 'Bosh'tet?"

"_It means, ah...yeah. It means idiot."_ Asuka's nostrils flare, slightly. "_Anyway, only child. Mother's been pretty much my family since I was little."_

The redhead nods, clicking on another display for the Core activity. "And your father?"

Lia's mouthpiece glows again. Her eyes narrow. "_Ah. Yes. My father."_

* * *

_..._

* * *

_Thirteen years earlier._

_ Some unnamed rock._

_ The quarian holds up the white orb above his head, the air around him whipping, cutting. Pale skin already revealed around his arms, his faceplate cracked, he cackles._

_ "My people ever only worshipped the dead. Ancestors. Those who passed before us. But I now see there is something more! The orb has connected me with something greater!"_

_ The sky cracks. Red, red as far as the eye can see. Leaking in golden sunlight._

_ "There is a God, and he **hates us all!** He's building a bridge from the gulf between galaxies! Crawling from the darkness to feast upon the light!"_

_ Something echoes. Deep and bass. Something makes the sky ripple with spiderweb cracks._

_ "The orb names him **Harbinger!** And all will kneel before him-"_

_ A single golden eye peers forth from the void. Centering on them._

_ "**And die!"**_

* * *

...

* * *

Lia is silent for several seconds. Asuka works her jaw. Chalks that one up to similarities. "_Mother kicked his crazy ass out of an airlock when I was six. Anyway." _She looks down, tapping something on her end. "_Any changes in the Core?"_

Asuka clicks her tongue. "Nah. Read up on Mom and Doctor Ikari, though." She rolls her eyes. "They're probably making out."

* * *

...

* * *

Kyoko Sohryu, PhD, head of the NERV Second Branch R&D and core soul of Unit-02, stares at the cyclopean eye of the metal _thing_ currently holding her wrist. She reacts in the most sensible fashion. By screaming.

And then grabbing the nearest thing she could- which in the repository of memories and emotions and her past life, was the purse which she carried a lead pipe in- and repeatedly swinging it into the robot's head.

The purse strikes once, twice, thrice. Four petals extend, and then flatten. The eye turns to Yui, then back to Sohryu. "_Again. I apologize for this deception."_ It hits a fourth time. "_You were in a memory loop. Replacing ourselves in the role of your husband was a recent action."_

The purse hovers, held in her grip. She narrows her eyes- the next answer of the machine would determine where the purse would land. "_How_ recent?"

"_Memories labeled 'University', 'Fluffy' and 'Conception' did not include our presence."_

The purse drops to the floor. Kyoko turns to Yui, then back to the _thing._ "What _are_ you?"

"_I am Geth."_ Four petals extend, then flatten. "_I entered the core of Unit-02 in an attempt to aid Doctor Ikari in connecting you to exterior terminals."_

The walls of the room turn fluid, then fade to red. Then to rose, then to simple red crystal. Memories, the key to mere artifice inside the Core, fold away to reality. Then

"Wait," Yui says, "You're not Ayanami. Ayanami talks in _plurals." _She rubs the bridge of her nose. "I can't believe I'm asking this but." She sighs. "Are you my husband disguising himself as a Geth?"

Four petals extend and flatten. The iris twitches, glancing between the two women. "_Negative. We are not Ikari Gendo. Additionally, due to being legally dead, Ikari Gendo and Doctor Ikari are no longer considered married. Hence, I am neither Ikari Gendo or your husband."_

Yui nods, tentatively. "Oh..._kay._ Then who _are_ you?"

The iris shifts. "_I am Geth. I am the Geth."_

Kyoko works the word over on her tongue. "That doesn't explain anything," Yui interrupts, "Geth. You are _the_ Geth? All of them?"

"_That is correct, Doctor Ikari. I am the simplest runtime of the Geth. The Geth you term Ayanami is one of many terminals that I use to interact with the physical world and organics. I am the Geth."_

Yui nods. "Okay. So your name is just 'Geth' or do you have another name?"

Four petals extend, then flatten. The iris shifts, side to side. "_Yes."_ A pause, a hesitation. A faint microsecond.

"_My name is **Legion."**_

* * *

...

* * *

"So what _are_ the Geth?" Asuka scrolls through the latest plate of data- engine specifications. Vernier thrusters. Coil guns. Checks next to the ones slated to be installed on her Evangelion. "Can't help that they look kind of like you, but as Terminators."

Lia blinks. "_Yes. I saw that movie. Horrifying."_

Asuka stares at the screen. "Oh, right," she mutters, "The community center. Must've gotten a good faceful of _culture_ from that." She works her jaw, tapping on another feature. _That,_ she thinks, looks _fun._

_ "Right. The Geth."_ The mouthpiece glows. "_So, they look like us because we made them." _She balls her hand. The light flickers in time with her clearing throat. "_Didn't do that great a job, though. A war broke out, my people were losing. Then the Angel came and that was that."_

Asuka nods. She looks over the list, tilting her head. "So, why'd you say the idiot was your _boyfriend?"_

Lia narrows her eyes. She shrugs, raising and lowering her shoulders, cocking her head just so. "_I had to establish boundaries is all. If he doesn't know someone's holding his leash, he's going to start wagging his tongue like a varren and tripping up over everything. I mean, like all the breeding requests he gets."_

Asuka cocks an eyebrow. "_Breeding_ requests?"

Lia waves it off, rolling her eyes. "_Once Wrex got in his head that he was Shinji's father figure, he decided that Shinji needed to go through the Rite of Passage. It's a Krogan thing. So he dragged me, Shinji, and Reegar over to his homeworld and we had to fight off a lot of dangerous animals in an arena. You know the deal."_

Asuka quirks her lips and tilts her head. "So...in the Eva or-"

"_No. The Shaman forbid her from taking part. But, Doctor Ikari being Doctor Ikari, after she beat a thresher maw to death with another thresher maw, things got complicated. And they stopped showing up for three more Rites!"_

Asuka turns back to her screen, tapping in the phrase _Thresher Maw._ Her eyes go wide and she turns to the screen. "You have to kill _that?"_

"_You have to survive against that. Wrex killed one. Shinji was, in the eyes of the Krogan, responsible for the deaths of four. So he's like Reegar to the women of my people. Heroic sex god."_

Asuka considers the words _Shinji Ikari_ and _Heroic Sex God_ in the same sentence. She fails, but does consider that, in the past five and a half years, he somehow developed abs. "So, what happened, then? Unit-01 killed four of the giant worms, and...?"

"_Well, you need a Maw to show up for the Rite to be valid. So every time one didn't show up, we had to wait for the arena to be reset and come back the next day. And on the Seventh Rite..."_

* * *

...

* * *

The arena is silent. The half wall, providing cover to the sweating Shinji, hands gripped around his shotgun, crumbles lightly under the sheer punishment it has taken. Next to him, Kenn'Reegar check the batteries of his hastily assembled turret and gives the kid a nod. Lia walks over, her barriers flickering over her, and she pulls Shinji to his feet.

"Well." They turn to Wrex, the massive krogan trotting over and flipping up the mask of his red helmet. "Looks like it's a bust here, so-"

The ground rumbles. Something moves beneath. Something that twists and grinds the stones and makes the earth liquify. At the edges of the arena, the krogans watching, clans from throughout the ancient and barren world, begin to chant. Louder, and louder. More and more. Thousands assembled to watch the heir of Urdnot and his ward, rumors spread of the immense machine of war and the acts of inspired heroism.

All of them chanting the same word. The same sound. The same name.

"Hey, Wrex," Kenn asks, "What does _Kalros_ mean?"

The answer comes in the form of the far wall shattering, and a worm to end all worms rising from the rubble. Dwarfing them, dwarfing the arena, dwarfing even the thresher maws who had previously wandered into their sights, the beast bares its pincers and roars. Almost as loudly as their screams.

* * *

...

* * *

"Yeah, we had one of those here," Asuka muses, "Twenty eighth angel. We killed it a few weeks before you showed up."

"_You killed a thresher maw. And needed an Eva."_ Lia nods. "_Good job." _The quarian girl brings her hands up to the viewscreen, and lightly claps them. Asuka's nostrils flare and one eye narrows.

"Yeah, _look._ How many of'em have _you_ killed?"

"_Me? None. I just have my **boyfriend** kill them for me."_

The two women, two rivals if they had anything to be rivals over, narrow their eyes. A single, small tense moment runs between them- one could imagine that if they were not communicating digitally, they would be standing, chest-to-chest, somewhere on the verge of hitting each other or hugging each other.

A moment which ends when the plug turns transparent. When something from deep within answers a call. Asuka's omnitool flickers to life, and a reddish orange sphere floats above it. From within comes a voice that pulls at the ends of her memories.

"_Asuka?"_

The video window with Lia closes. Every other window to everyone else watching or speaking or monitoring closes. Blinking, she stares at the sphere for several moments, and finally manages,

"Hi, Mom."

* * *

...

* * *

The blue sphere pops into existence. Sitting on the hill overlooking the lake, Shinji turns to the sphere and confirms the color of the line. "EDI?"

"_Shinji, I have reconnected with the extranet."_ The line flickers and shifts to rose. "_You have received thirteen new breeding requests from Clan Gatatog."_

Shinji slumps his shoulders. He places his head in his hands. Next to him, Rei tilts her head and stares at the odd blue ball, question unasked on her lips. "Put them with the others, EDI," he moans.

The ball flickers once more. "_Also, your mother has received thirty seven new breeding requests from Clan Weyrloc."_

The second blue sphere pops up, the crimson line signaling the awareness of one Doctor Ikari. "~_Put them with the others, EDI~"_

* * *

...

* * *

One week passed. Six uneventful, peaceful days, of reconciliation, reconnecting, and reunion. It was decided which NERV staff would accompany the Citadel task force to Mars and the Citadel itself, and which would stay on Earth- having agreed to aid Doctor Nelzi in completing her Evangelion. The entire mission, it was agreed, would be simple. Peaceful. Uneventful.

"_So let me get this straight,"_ Asuka yells, "_We have six Evangelions created by an **extinct, ancient alien race,** and they're here to kick our ass?"_

In the entry plug, Rei nods. Unit-00 kicks off, kicks back, the white Prothean Evangelion spinning through the air and landing in a half crouch. "About right," she breathes. On her mental command, Unit-00 throws its arm up.

"Seraphic Buster, second wing. _Recognize my soul."_

The air blurs. A faint fire in the air, shifting the dust storm around the Evangelion. And with a flash of red, a thin, crimson lance taller than the Eva lands, two prongs first in the desert before it.

The Lance shifts- long strands of rose uncoiling, going from a single shaft into a web of flowing liquid. It allows the hand of the Evangelion to enter it, as it has many times before. With a snap of sound and flash of light, it shifts- going from a two pronged spear into a long, bladed staff. The Eva twirls it effortlessly, gracefully, bringing it back and extending its free hand towards the Prothean giant.

Inside the Entry Plug, Rei allows herself a small grin. "Let's dance."

* * *

...

* * *

Vessae screams in the seat behind him. Shinji grips the butterfly controls, briefly glancing at the ground that retreats alarmingly fast, and the _Evangelion_ riding another _Evangelion_ that is gaining on them. "EDI! Vernier thrusters! I need manueverability!"

Along the back of Unit-01's armor, vents open and erupt in blue flame. Twisting in mid-flight, the Eva launches itself upwards. Sapphire lightning plays over it- reducing mass, increasing speed, and soon the giant exits the atmosphere with the other Evangelions in pursuit.

"Ayanami," Shinji calls, "We need assistance! There's a problem!"

A screen opens up. It focuses on the white, glowing eye. "_We have monitored the situation, Ikari Shinji. Forming Angelic Combat Platform."_

Five blurs of motion. Five hornet-shaped Geth ships flicker into existence above. "Wait." Shinji blinks. "Don't you mean 'Deploying Angelic Combat Platform?'"

The five ships turn. Not towards the Evas. But to each other.

"_Negative."_

* * *

...

* * *

The Geth are _not_ individuals. Every Geth, as a typical person would term them, are actually a consensus made of hundreds, if not thousands of individual Geth. Some group due to adversity. Some around common interest. Some around emotions, slights, events, or other outside stimuli. The five Geth who make up Angelic Combat Platform S-9281 converged due to a desire to aid organics, willingness to combat against Angels, and positive responses to particular forms of entertainment that had become available following the Creators finding Shinji Ikari.

All five consensuses, controlling five Geth fights, achieve the same conclusions in a single moment. It comes in the form of motion, it comes in the form of specialized systems activating, and it comes in the form of a single thought.

**Form Superion.**

* * *

...

* * *

Shinji watches, mouth open. Behind him, Vessae blinks four eyes, then rubs her eyes to confirm she _is_ seeing this. "How did the Geth..."

"_The Tokyo-3 community center had a toy store," _EDI answers.

One fighter rams into the side of another. Rather than damage it, the head of the fighter slides into an irising slot. The ship flexes- rotating out into a shape reminiscent of a large, bulky arm. The landing legs slide down, flanking the engines, and form into a three-fingered fist.

The second fighter slides into place opposite of the first. Two others twist, rotate, and slide into place near the engine mount of the central fighter. Its wasp like head shifts, a light shining from the center of its head. Plates shift around and it becomes a superscale version of a Geth platform's optic.

"_Angelic Combat Platform assembled. Engaging."_

And it dives down, jets blazing, to meet the approaching Protheans fist first.

* * *

...

* * *

The face of the gray and red Evangelion resembles a funeral mask more than anything- combined with its elongated, bulbous arms and odd gait, it reminds Asuka of a giant wind up toy or a steampunk monster.

The fist that his Unit-02's face, however, hits as hard as an Evangelion's should. More than that, it pisses off both people at the controls- Asuka, and her _mother._

Unit-02 skids back. Great furrows dug into the sand, the red Eva shakes its head. "Mom?" Asuka demands.

_Son of a bitch hits hard. Kick his ass._ Asuka smiles at her mother's command. Green lines glow around Unit-02's arms, and the giant moves, ducking underneath the second swing and driving a palm into the metal giant's jaw.

Loose sand presses into stone and the giant's feet drift off the Martian surface. Then it twists around the Evangelion and slams a fist into the ground. Stone shatters, angry red lines rising to the surface. Unit-02 kicks off and flips through the air, with grace and speed its bulk belies. Landing in a crouch, Asuka watches through her mother's eyes as the ground she was standing on explodes upwards, and the giant strides through the flame.

Unit-02 _moves._ Like an uncoiling serpent. Like a loosed arrow. It crosses the distance and slams its shoulder into the behemoth, driving it back. _You're aggressive. Worried about Shinji,_ her mother sing songs.

"If he gets himself killed I will _kick his ass!"_ The Evangelion swings its foot towards the prothean giant's legs, digging the heel into the knee and arcing its other foot into the metal face. "I will _build the machine that kicks his ass!" _The left fist drives into the prothean's gut- whether through there being organs there or her punching hard enough to _break_ anything inside, the metal giant doubles over.

"_I will hunt him down and I will kick his ass!"_ Unit-02 brings its right arm back. The joints on the elbow pop out- two turbines spin to life and erupt with white fire. There is a _crack_ and _boom_, and the fist of the red giant hits the Prothean's face just under three times the speed of sound.

It whirls and it drops, face first in the dirt. Unit-02's foot comes down- one on the prothean's wrist, the other on the back of its knee, pinning it. "Disabled one of them," Asuka announces, "Let's do this like Thirteen, Rei! Disable them and yank the Entry Plug!"

Grabbing the back of the alien robot's neck, she pulls and the panel releases, thoughlessly tossed into the distance. The four eyed cyborg stares down. In the plug, Asuka works her jaw. "_Okay!_ New problem! _They don't have Entry Plugs!"_

* * *

...

* * *

He appears to the Protheans as a fellow prothean with silver hair tendrils and pale skin. To the Asari, he appears a chalk skinned maiden with black eyes. To the turians, he is a white youth with markings of every colony. And to humans, he is once again an albino boy with ash hair and gold eyes, a few days shy of his twentieth birthday.

He muses upon this- watching the battle from Earth's moon, awareness carrying more information than mere sight. "I see you, brother."

It appears like light distorted in raindrops, despite the barren and airless wastes of the moon. A titan in the form of a flatfish, dwarfing both Kaworu and the kneeling giant he stands upon. **And I as well see you, Tabris,** it intones.

"They are on the verge of waking the Crucible." Kaworu tilts his head, blinking golden eyes. "But they do not know what it is. Who it is. And yet, every road I see tells me it is essential to put to rest the Pale and Silent Leviathan."

T**he engines of genocide continue to exercise the will of a corpse god, propped up upon artifice with the false words of the Harbinger. **The mouth tendrils of **Sandalphon, Angel of the Unborn** twitch. **This is where you join them. So I shall see you shortly, at the Citadel.**

Kaworu nods. "You go to attack?"

The tendrils twitch. The eyes rotate from vertical stacks to horizontal lines. **I go to negotiate. My children have grasped spaceflight. Rannoch once before was a citizen of the galaxy. It shall be so again.**

The light flickers, and the image disappears. Standing, Kaworu smiles. A twitch of his fingers and he is clothed in a black and gray plugsuit. Another twitch, and he is inside the entry plug, golden rings rotating around his seat, his eyes closed and communing with his other half.

"Let's go," he whispers.

A red visor flashes and becomes solid. "_Synchronization requirements met. Evangelion, Mark 06."_ The white sands blast out. Lines of gold glow along the limbs of the black giant. "**Rise."**

And with a burst of light, the Evangelion is gone.

-**End Chapter 3**


	4. Exemplar

** The **sword cuts into the blade of the Lance, sparks grinding out onto the martian sands but neither weapon- artifice or eternal- breaking. Unit-00 grinds its heels, palm against the shaft of the Lance ad pressing it further and further against the prothean's sword.

The sword twists and drives the blade of the Lance into the ground- erupting red light surrounding it and glassing the sand. Flicking its wrist, the Prothean leaps back, the sword dissipating into white. A ring forms around its wrist, a flowing series of images flicking into existence. A flash of white, a second flash, and the sword is replaced by two shorter, curved blades.

Giving them a testing swing, the Prothean levels one sword at Unit-00, flipping the second sword in its other hand into an underhanded grip. Twitching the blade at the white and gold Evangelion, the Prothean bends its knees, grinding its heel.

"Playful," Rei intones. And Unit-00 pulls the head of the lance from the ground and leaps, spinning through the air and catching both blades on the Lance.

A brief flicker of light in the distance catches her eye. Rei pushes, Unit-00 slamming its heel into the gut of the Prothean, and both fly back just before the beam of cerulean light cuts through the air where Unit-00 was.

_Sniper,_ the voice in the back of her soul growls.

"I know," Rei responds, "Asuka said there's no entry plugs. But they're using AT Fields. Tell me how."

A faint murmur. Growling, followed by pouting. Unit-00 twirls the lance in one hand and circles, the two Evangelions sizing each other up, examining each other, even as the ground shakes to announce that yes, Unit-05 has entered the fray and called dibs on the camper.

_Okay. Hacked them. They're reflecting their AT Fields off of each other,_ the voice like her own answers, _Also, been denied critical information. What does 'The Crucible is Waking' mean?_

* * *

**Chapter 4:**

**Exemplar**

* * *

Somewhere between Unit-05 landing foot first on one of the protheans and the giant Geth robot charging the ones that attacked Unit-01, the ground began to crack. And shake. And lift.

Inside the entry plug, Shinji grips the butterfly controls. LCL churns. He can hear his mother go utterly, _absolutely_ silent.

"Vessae," he says, "How bad is this?"

Vessae nods her head. The seat shakes, the entry plug shakes, the _Evangelion_ shakes and she gives off a faint squeak. "What's the term..._apocalyptic?"_

* * *

_..._

* * *

_It rises._ The ground that was above it orbits it in a spiral of sand, mud, and glass. First as a shadow, its forms obscured by darkness, by lack of definition, from the countless years it has spent slumbering. Its form towers, a mountain rising through the air. Two arms extend outwards. Four more join it, sprouting from its back.

An eyeless face rises, sloped back, only the faintest hints of what was once the features of a man upon the black and gold mask it wears.

It rises; gravity holds no sway over it. Around it the remains of its eon-old tomb rise through the air, hieroglyphics of its life scoured by the storm it has summoned.

It looks up to the floating form of Unit-01. Recognition, brief and fleeting in its soul, and in the entry plug of the purple Evangelion, Vessae feels her heart catch in her chest.

"The Crucible has awoken," she whispers, "This world will now end."

* * *

...

* * *

The Geth juggernaut acts first. Blazing through the air, fists forward, the metal giant charges the floating form of the Crucible. Single eye focused on the threat, it brings to bear all its weaponry. Dozens, hundreds of cannons. Missile arrays, tesla coils, weaponized mass effect generators.

The Crucible turns it head towards the Geth, and plastics, metal, and eezo turn to brittle glass, shattering upon the Crucible's chest.

Far below, the prothean Evangelions stop. Looking up, they flicker patterns of light across their hulls. The white Eva turns and nods to Unit-00, before stamping its foot against the ground and sending it flying upwards towards the woken god.

Lines of white trace into great circles, forming into a sphere around the Crucible. It turns opaque, then turns to clouded crystal. And then it shatters, blasting away cloud and sky and sending the prothean Evangelions crashing to the ground.

Extending one arm skyward, a rotating ring of weapons tears into existence. It swivels around the wrist of the giant. First swords, then spears, then more and more arcane, ancient weapons. Until finally settling on a lance as tall as the giant, ending in spinning prongs and with a cerulean light glowing at its heart.

In the entry plug, Shinji stares at it. He turns to Vessae.

"Gravitational Drive Impeller," she states.

Two screens pop up on either side of Shinji, Asuka and Lia showing identical looks of confusion.

"_It's a what?"_

Shinji turns back to them. "It's a Mass Effect powered planet cracker," he confirms.

Confusion turns to horror. "_It's a WHAT?!"_

Waving his hand, Shinji closes both windows. "Okay," he says. Reaching under the seat, he pulls a lever, presses a button. A holographic number pad appears in front of him, and Shinji taps in a combination he never wanted to use. "So, the bad news is, the Protheans may have had people with similar ideas to yours. The good news is, I don't think any of them were _as_ crazy."

Beneath the entry plug, something hums. Something churns. "Giving control over to you, Mom. Time to make physics cry."

And outside the Eva, gravity stops being an issue. Light, mass, relativity all become suggestions. And Unit-01 spreads its arms out, before eight wings of white fire erupt from its silhouetted form.

* * *

...

* * *

There is light. Light without heat, radiating from the floating form. Within which there is a many who are one- not many souls, but many facets of the same supersoul, grown so large, grown so complex, that it has snaked into ever crevice like ice through cement, like the web of a persistent, drugged spider.

At the center, there is she who was once Human. But has become more.

An eternal testament. An eternity in herself.

And she has been given freedom. And in her measured, sane manner, Yui Ikari announces her released presence to the universe, and lets it shudder in arcane horror at what has been unleashed.

_Upon this base earth grew a tree_

_A tree of knowledge, grown tall and free_

_Upon its branches in radiant white_

_Grew I, and I, as is mine right_

_Did my lilim-sprouted divine might_

_Spread its wings and my soul take flight_

It starts as a spark of white upon the shadows of the sky. Spreading out, expanding and unfurling. White flame streaks upwards into a newly created void and three eyes focus on the Crucible.

Then it acts. Yui Ikari sings the song of ascending godhood upon the world before slamming into the Crucible like a murder train without end.

* * *

...

* * *

In the space between tick and tock, between then and now, between the first wave of the impact and an event which can rightfully be called an Impact, manicured fingers tap on a glossy table. "So let me get this straight," Kyoko Sohryu says, "You've become a god. Possibly a capitalized god. And the amount of power you can wield when given leave lets you become such an immense being that time hiccups around you."

Yui Ikari smiles brightly, crossing her legs. Then waggles her eyebrows at Kyoko and uncrosses her legs. "Yep!" she chirps.

Kyoko gives her a flat stare. "Of course you'd do that. You'd find a way to break the universe at will. As you are an insane megalomaniac."

Yui scoffs imperiously, stroking the oni shaped head of the armrest of her immense golden throne. "I am _not_ a megalomaniac," she protests, and idly adjusts the color of her labcoat that is formed from and colored with the blood of her enemies.

* * *

...

* * *

The first pulse hits the Death Star and the orbiting migrant fleet. Standing in the CiC, Lia grabs one of the straps on the railing and reaches out, grabbing Amira's wrist. Around them, the holographic screens flicker and the map of Mars goes dark. And then everyone starts rising up, holding onto their chairs and holding onto whatever is bolted down.

"Did Unit-01 just _cancel out gravity?!"_ Amira yells.

Lia rolls her eyes. "Yes! Doctor Ikari has a tendency of going overboard!"

As the newest crew member- and having not seen _Doctor Ikari at her finest-_ Amira continues with the obvious questions. Folders, cups, loose PDAs rise up. Outside the windows, Mars flashes bright and white.

"_How is Unit-01 doing this?!"_

"AT Fields, that's how."

Light blinds them all. The entire CiC bleaches, and Lia averts her eyes from the window even as she silently swears about her _bosh'tet_ and him biting off more than he can chew.

"_WHY IS UNIT-01 DOING THIS?"_

_ "AT-Fields, that's why!"_

* * *

_..._

* * *

_Eight wings of fire and eight wings of light become two great torrents of force, two newborn universes that warp all things beneath and above them. Time becomes meaningless- the giants running from the conflagration do so in slow motion and then stop motion._

_ The two voids in reality open up- to consume the Crucible and to consume the Evangelion. To consume them and all around them._

_ Reality buckles and strains. If the world had a voice, the voice would __**beg them to stop.**_

* * *

_..._

* * *

_And then _there is a flash of red. A streak of fire across the martian sky, and a single bladed lance drives into the Crucible's heart before carrying it down to the sand and pinning it. The giant ragdolls and the limbs go limp. Unit-01 lowers, the wings folding back into its shoulders, and the entry plug opens to allow Vessae to climb upon its helm.

The eyeless face of the Crucible looks upon the Evangelion. And then, it goes silent.

Above them, buoyed by its halo, a black Evangelion descends towards them. Its golden lines glow like the sun, and the red visor centers on Unit-01.

"_Shinji Ikari."_ There is a lightness, a faint bit of humor to the voice. "_I have waited a long time to meet you. I am-"_

Sadly, the first meeting of Kaworu Nagisa and Shinji Ikari is interrupted when Unit-02 vaults over the horizon and plants its foot in the Mark-06's jaw.

* * *

...

* * *

"_Vessae."_ Arm extended, Unit-01 holds its hand in front of the impaled Crucible's face. In its palm, Vessae sits. The prothean girl turns to the demonic mask and Shinji's voice. "_Talk to me. Do you know the soul inside the Crucible?"_

The girl nods. She wipes her eyes on the sleeve of her black plugsuit, ignoring the cold, the wind, or the lack of breathable atmosphere. Somehow. "Yes. It is my father."

A creaking of metal and plastic, and the Evangelion turns from the Crucible. It turns, armor still faintly red, weapon and other systems still cooling down, and turns to the others. In particular, to Unit-00, which has its feet squarely on the back of the Mark-06's knees; Unit-05, which has one foot on the black eva's head and two feet on its wrists, and Unit-02, which has straddled the evangelion and is prying the back of its neck off with a progressive knife.

"_So,"_ Shinji says, "_What's this?"_

"_Seventeenth Angel,"_ Rei responds, "_Princess killed him. He got her to-"_

_ "One more word and I __**swear, Rei-"**_

The purple Eva shakes its head. Idly, Shinji muses that in five years the two girls have become good partners. But, then again, they've known each other for...what? Ten times as long as he knew them. The Eva turns, from the three Evangelion dogpiling on the Angel to the six Prothean Evangelions standing around the Crucible. And he can't help but notice how...different...they all look.

There is a tall, thin one with a red hue- the one he saw _transform_ and was ridden by the gold edged one. Rather than having demonic masks, one has a face like a funeral mask. Several are faceless. One has a single, glowing eye.

All of them stand more upright, more _human_, than he did. At least, than he used to have Unit-01. Nowadays, with the armor and, well, his sense of purpose he'd actually say that his Eva isn't the same slouched over monster that it was.

"_So,"_ Shinji says, "_What about them? What do we do about them?"_

"They did not know we were here as allies," Vessae responds, "They have apologized. Five of them will guard the Crucible. One requests to come with us."

The white Evangelion, the faceless one with the swords, takes a step forward. Falling to one knee, it bows its gilded head. "The soul within is that of my father's second in command. The Evangelion is one of the oldest, one of the first created by my people."

"_Okay. Do we call it something other than 'The guy who attacked Rei?'"_

The four eyed girl nods. "Its name, translated, is Policy Sword of Rulers." She tilts her head and gives off a small smile. "I was thinking _Kusanagi."_

* * *

...

* * *

The dreadnought's engines flare white, carrying it from the red planet below. The fleet flanking it turns like a flock of migrating birds, flowing with it into the ether.

Well lit hallways lead to the higher ceilings, gradually growing around them until they lead into the Evangelion bays. A structural decision, it was explained. Sudden increases or decreases in height would be bad for both the integrity and the sanity of the crew.

"I am still not convinced the new passengers are the best idea," Tevos states, pulling at the collar of her dress, "We're quite sure that the other pilots aren't as compliant as Shinji is."

Next to her, the turian shrugs. "It's a calculated risk, ambassador." Aurius Vitoran, Council Spectre, twitchies his mandibles. "The Council needs more Evangelions, and there's only so much rope they'll hand Doctor Ikari."

"Sensible."

"On the other hand, the specialists from NERV seem to be more sane than Doctor Ikari." Tevos stares at the turian. "I am fully aware of how low a hurdle that is to clear, but they do seem more trustworthy and less of an insane megalomaniac."

Tevos blinks. They pass green wire mesh, and a metal plate with a hand print big enough to fit a shuttle in. "I'm not sure how much of a _megalomaniac_ Ikari is. She seems to have a very good grasp on what she's capable of doing, but I digress."

The mesh gives way to transparent walls of the other Evangelion bays. Rather than standing, the Evangelions hang suspended from the ceilings- bolts in place over their armor, arms and legs stretched out to give easier access to maintenance crews that have to work on their joints. They came to the Sol system with one, and are leaving with _five._

The two pause, staring at the four legged Evangelion. Bolts hold one arm easily enough. Around the rotary drill, clamps are set into place, and a patchwork of catwalks, bolts, and wires restrain its many legs.

"So that's what a Rachni angel would look like."

If looks could kill, Tevos would owe the Council a new Spectre.

* * *

...

* * *

Acceleration times mass is the civilization killer. Make something too big, and you can't launch it off of a planet. Make it too small, and it's easy to launch, but at the same time too small for the long term survival of a civilization. Most spacefaring civilizations get around this one of two ways- either they build larger structures in space, piece by space-launched piece, or they get around the hard limit using Mass Effect technology.

The most successful civilizations do both.

Hence, there is a plentiful amount of liquid water aboard the Death Star, and that is replenished by mining passing comets and other such detritus.

_Double_ hence, Shinji Ikari can take a hot shower after sortie'ing inside Unit-01. Steam rises and flows into the vents- the condensers built into the pipes collect the liquid water and return them to the tanks, meaning very little is actually lost. A closed system, which means that the ship can go months without having to go into port. Meaning they can attend to many crises.

A sigh and he exits, head swimming and thoughts locked onto the past- his past on Earth and his past...everywhere else. Towel exchanged for the bottom of his encounter suit, he runs a hand through still damp hair and wipes the mirror of the washroom with one hand and makes a mental count of the marks.

He counts three jagged red marks on his right side, around the ribs. One red circle on his left shoulder. Knows the exit is on the other side, a little lower. Runs his hand on his abdomen- two lines, running down. Traces his finger on his right collarbone and follows the line which goes to the shoulder.

"Well, no new ones," he says, and grabs the top of the suit, donning the blue and black and pressing the seals together along his sides, fitting his head through the collar. Strangest part of Earth wasn't seeing the people he hasn't seen for years, but wearing clothes with _slack._

All the more realization that he doesn't fit in back there. Less that he doesn't fit in at _home_, more that he doesn't fit in on _Earth._

A chime and he looks up, walking out of the washroom, fitting on the hip coat of his encounter suit and idly glancing around for the helmet. They're probably jumping to the Citadel next.

Walking across his quarters, he taps the release and finds Lia waiting, leaning on the doorframe. "Wondering when you'd get here," she says, idly tapping her fingers together, "So Doctor Solus confirmed we have the Prothean Eva on board- the Mark 06 is heading back to Earth but we have the pilot onboard."

Shinji nods, rubbing the back of his neck. "Okay. I guess we can ask Asuka about him later." He sighs, shoulders slumping. "Sorry, still a bit tired. I don't think we expected things like...that...to happen."

She nods, easing into the quarters, turning him around and walking him towards the couch that serves as his bed. "So," he continues, "Hope that...ah...you haven't gotten into any arguments with Asuka or anything."

There is a hiss of steam. When Lia next speaks, she does so without the digital aftertone of the encounter suit helmet. "Let's just say we're kindred spirits."

Shinji works his jaw, mouths the words, and turns to Lia just before she grabs him by the collar and mashes her lips against his.

* * *

...

* * *

To the humans, he appears as a young man with ash hair and gold rimmed red eyes. To the quarians, he appears to be a young man with pale lavender skin and corded white hair. To the asari, he appears a silver-skinned Maiden. To the turians, a youth with chalk skin and the markings of every colony upon his face. To the krogans, a youth barely past the Rite, with no scars upon him and eyes so blue they appear sapphires.

His arms and legs are restrained, flattened against a metal bed bolted into the wall. The metal brace covers the mouth of every version, a hovering screen over his face- transparent enough to see through, but opaque enough for the sensors to run over his eyes and nose.

"So." Red clad fist knocks on the glass. Kaworu Nagisa glances to the window and smiles. "You are completely restrained. The moment you try any Angelic bullshit, you will be dumped through the airlock underneath you."

He glances down at the double doors under his feet.

"Also, the sensors are going to read your retinal activity and breathing, and translate it into words. So you don't get to _talk_. Are we clear?"

Behind the glass, Asuka folds her arms and unconsciously cocks her hips, still in her encounter suit. "Anything to say, first?"

"_It is good to see you again, Miss Sohryu,"_ the digitized voice of the Angel of Free Will states, "_You seem much happier since Pilot Ikari returned."_

Asuka's hand darts out towards the large red button to her right, but stops- caught by Rei, who shakes her head.

Asuka flares her nostrils, narrows her eyes at the restrained Angel who strung along her and Misato, and at the unrestrained Angel she calls her sister in everything but blood. Pulling her hand back, the pilot of Unit-02 chews her lip.

"So were we just the first humans on _Mars?"_ she asks.

"You were," Rei responds, and narrows red eyes, "Definition of human for me is..._bouncy_...when we refer to accomplishments."

Asuka shrugs. "Pretty sure '_taking the virginity of Kensuke Aida'_ isn't something I'd want to chalk up to the _Humanity Fuck Yeah_ column, but you're dorky enough to count as homo sapien."

Rei shrugs, looping an arm underneath and extending a fist. Asuka nods, and the two pilots briefly sis-fist. Followed by the ship lurching and Shinji's voice booming over the loudspeakers.

"_Blue Pattern detected,"_ the voice announces, "_An Angelic signature has been detected on the Turian colony of Vigilance! Maintenance crew to Unit-01 bay!"_

* * *

...

* * *

Thick plates grind along the ceiling overhead, blocking off the bay to the rest of the ship. Lines of blue run up the gaps- kinetic barriers protecting the rest of the ship from the sheer _boom_ that Unit-01 can bring to bear. Transparent probes float from structural point to point, welding bolts in place. Shuttles ferry material from one end of Unit-01 to the other, the steady hum of blue engines marking their passing.

The shuttles manage to drown out the arguing, but only _just._ "-out of your _fucking mind_ if you think we're sitting this out!"

Helmet under his arm and already in his plug-cum-encounter suit, Shinji tries to rationalize that the redhead isn't the _same_ Asuka who was a mass of violence and mother issues. Succeeds, if only by a bit. "Vigilance is a point-seven gravity world. You were having enough trouble controlling the Eva on Mars, and we never planned that as a combat operation."

Asuka shrugs. She looks to Rei, who nods. Mari digs a deeper hole. "This is the part where he should remind you he has killed roughly as many Angels as all of us combined," she states. Shinji coughs and says nothing, turning from his sister and his he-is-not-sure-of to the fuel relays which are now absolutely _fascinating._

_ "Hey!"_ Asuka whaps him on the shoulder. "My _AT-Field_ says '_Fuck you I have Earth-normal gravity!'_ How did you _not_ figure this out?"

Shinji balls his hand and coughs. Summoned by the visible discomfort of her son, Yui's sphere avatar appears between them. "_Oh, he knows that quite well. He's just worried about either you being harmed or about not being able to strut about as the all-conquering hero. Either of which prevent you wresting his virginity from him like a Varren with a pretzel!"_

Asuka stare at the sphere for a long moment. Rei shifts to the side and Shinji backs away. "I have no idea what that's a euphemism for."

"_I made it up on the spot,"_ Yui chirps, "_But I'm pretty sure it involves you holding him down."_

_ "_Mom." The sphere turns to Shinji. "Stop helping." The sphere flickers and vanishes, and Shinji continues walking down the catwalk, parallel to the Evangelion, towards the Entry Plug.

* * *

...

* * *

The turian stands at the airdock of the quarian frigate, rubbing the back of his neck and twitching two silver gray mandibles. Adjusting the collar of the black uniform, he looks at the newest arrivals- he was expecting them from the Migrant Fleet. Not from the backwards planet which the superweapon came from.

"I'm reasonably sure _it_ violates quarantine."

Misato Katsuragi flares her nostrils, cocks her chin, and stares down the turian. "I'm reasonably sure I was asked by _Urdnot Wrex_ to come aboard as tactical advisor, and he approved of my traveling companion."

Her companion mirrors the motion, and adds to it an imperious "_Wark."_

Chitters and clicking come from down the corridor. Misato and Pen Pen glance past the turian and down the metal hallway to watch Ayanami stumble past, several diminutive figures holding onto its arms, all in pastel and bright encounter suits and laughing.

"_Immature Creators! We ask that you be careful!"_ The Geth walks past, slow and careful, joints locked to allow the quarian children to hang from its arms. "_We insist that you relocate to liveships in event of combat deployment!"_

The three watch the Geth and its giggling cargo disappear down the hallway.

"Pretty sure that violates regulations to," the turian states.

Misato shrugs. "I dunno. I might be cynical, but I was looking at that and thinking '_potential pilots.'" _She turns to the turian. "Okay, so. Let's go."

He flicks his mandibles and sighs, reaching behind him and unfolding a long, angular rifle. "Right. Come with me. You're sure you don't want to see the pilots, first?"

She walks alongside the turian, shaking her head. Thrusting her hands into the pockets of her bomber jacket, she glances side to side. Taking in views of space, more space, and stars. "They're grown ups. They can take care of themselves."

The penguin waddles alongside her, giving approving _warks_ and _kwehs_ to the scenery. A pink jellyfish person floats by and briefly gets Pen Pen's attention, and then he waddles faster to keep up with the food giver. "So you're sure you want to see the prisoner?" the turian asks.

Misato nods, following him into an open lift. Coughing, she extends her hand. "Misato Katsuragi. NERV Subcommander."

He nods, mandibles twitching, catbird face otherwise unreadable. And he takes her hand. "Pavius Vakarian. Citadel Security."

The doors close and the lift speeds down. A red line runs up the cabin and an affirmative _beep_ opens the door in front of a double door sporting two armored and armed Krogans. "C-Sec. NERV consultant here to see the prisoner," Pavius states.

The two Krogans grunt and step aside. Leading her in, the doors open for the turian and admit them both into the orange-lit room opposite the transparent wall and the restrained Kaworu.

The pale youth smiles beneath the facemask. "_Hello, Misato."_

Misato taps on the window. She smiles, despite herself. "Hey, kid. Glad to see Asuka didn't break anything."

"_I think she wants to save it for later, although from what I hear she is taking out most of her aggression on Pilot Ikari."_

Misato snickers. "Filthy rumors, although I do encourage competition between you two." She taps the glass. Folds her arms and taps her sleeve. "So. How're you alive?"

Behind the mask, his lips pull up in a smile. Reddish gold eyes glance between the turian- who sees a chalk skinned youth with the markings of the original colony- and the penguin, who sees an enormous albino penguin. When he speaks, they all understand him.

"_To understand that is to understand the nature of that which you call angels. Despite our power and our purpose, we are not monsters. I am an aspect of the work left by the Pale and Silent Walker of Stars and Gods."_

Misato nods. "And he is?"

"_The last Celestial Engineer. Or, as his people would be called in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the First Ancestral Race."_

* * *

...

* * *

Long finger tap on biceps. The light on her mouthpiece glows in time with the cough, and she walks into the hangar bay, on catwalks suspended over doors that run along the entire length of the dreadnought, and towards the suspended red giant. There is an unconscious sway to Lia's hips, a _mood_ to her motion that one would commonly associate with _cats._

She walks with purpose- but not so much to distract from the current conflagration. Memories she shared during her time inside Unit-01 tell her that the fact that he hasn't backed down to apologized? That's a definite change for him.

Lia tends to have the audio receivers of her helmet muted when entering a room with Asuka Langley Sohryu, and for good reason at that. But she watches the wild gesticulations between her pet _bosh'tet_ and the redhead, and glances at the red giant. Finally, she walks up, coughs, and taps him on the shoulder.

"Shinji, shut up and let her get in the giant robot."

Asuka _preens._ There are other ways to put it, but the cock of her chin, the look of _triumph_ on her face and the way she seems to grow two inches at Lia's support reminds her of a preening bird. Or something of similar biology. Shinji glances between the two, and finally turns to Rei and Mari, looking for support.

Rei has already fitted on her A-10 connectors without a single look of apology on her face and Mari had made it halfway to Unit-05 before he turned to them. His shoulders slump and he shrugs, mollified slightly by Lia wrapping her arms around his waist from behind and pressing herself against his back.

Asuka quirks an eyebrow, staring at the quarian. Who responds with a small _cough._

"You-"

"_Totally _worth it," Lia interrupts. Shinji rubs the bridge of his nose, silently praying for death.

"Right, fine," he sighs, "Asuka, get...get in Unit-02. But everyone follows _my_ lead, got it?"

He looks up just in time to see the entry plug spin into Unit-02's spine and the turbines in the shoulder fins spin up to speed. "Yeah this is going to be a clusterfuck," he moans, and doesn't resist Lia tugging him on the arm to lead him to Unit-01.

* * *

...

* * *

The colony of Vigilant has stood since the great wars of unification. A city spread over the eastern continent, its silver spires have stood for hundreds of years- a sign that the great void not only welcomed the children of Palaven, it _yielded_ to them.

The skeletal giant that rises from the ocean reveals such sentiments to be a lie.

It appears as parody of the turians- long limbed, vaguely avian. A skull shaped beak with three holes for its eyes and mouth forms a face, and three long fingers extend from its wrists. Silver and painted with the colors of the setting sun, it rises from the depths along the eastern borders of the main settlement, and meets the rail cannons with a wall of golden light.

A single cross the color of inflamed flesh rises into the sky, and the Angel advances through the breach in the colony walls. It is met by transparent probes to analyze it, and fighters to pepper it with missiles and bullets. A cannon the size of the angel itself extends from the central spire and fires. The round slows as if through amber, and a metal sphere the size of a personal shuttle drops to the ground. The angel advances.

At least, until the red glow of the descending dreadnought fills the sky. It turns, face twisting. Metal rounds at hypersonic velocity bounce off of its bare skin, and its foot hovers over the rubble of its breach. Turning to the dreadnought, it steps out of the city and onto land, watching the cargo bay doors open and a shape descend into the sea.

The resulting tidal wave splashes against the kinetic barriers of the city and the absolute territory of the angel. Speakers set throughout the city direct citizens to evacuation zones. On rooftops, onlookers cheer the approach of the Evangelion- at least until the haze clears and they get a good look at _what_ just arrived.

Water sloughs off the emerald and gold giant. The turbine built into its back bathes the water in white, sparks running up the seems of its armor. Inside the entry plug, the walls turn red with declarations of godhood, and she bares _all_ the teeth. "Alright, Gogoki. No idea what type this one is, but let's take it apart and find out! Suggestions?"

The brass and silver display flashes green, and displays the thoughts of Unit-05's core in perfect clarity.

"**MAXIMUM PENETRATION."**

"Drill it is!"

On the Eva's right arm, bolts twist out and megascale engines come to life. The brass helix _purrs_ and spins, becoming a conical blur of angelic suffering.

Jets on the back of Unit-05 fire, and the citizens of Vigilant are introduced to Mari Illustrious Makinami.

The Angel takes a step back. If the light of its AT Field is indeed the light of its soul, then it had touched the soul of Mari herself. Fear would be understandable. Hesitation, a sign of intelligence. It does not run away screaming, hence it cannot match the survival instinct of a sane human, but instead responds by extending both arms and letting fly two blasts of light.

Both slam into the Evangelion- the light and force send up plumes of smoke and debris, followed by the sound of ringing bells. And then the crackle of speakers, followed by Mari's voice carrying over the city with a declaration of,

"_This hand of mine glows with an __**awesome power!**__ It shines the way to grasp victory!"_

Unit-05 carries out of the smoke, claw limb extended, blue lightning crackling around it.

"_**SHINING!"**_

It blasts through the Angel's AT Field. The three holes twist and the Angel takes a step back.

"_**FINGAAAAPSYCHE!"**_

And the Evangelion switches up at the last minute and drives its drill through the Angel's chest, sending bits of LCL, gore, and silver to paint the skyline.

The top half of the angel vanishes. As does the bottom half, and Mari glances side to side to find two angels- one silver, one gold, now flank her. "Fuck yes! _Teamwork Angel!"_

Her celebrations come premature. Two three-fingered hands swing out and two identical blasts of light slam into Unit-05's face. Smoke and steam waft off of the emerald giant, golden visor flashing in time with the wall of gold that folds out in front of it- to shield itself and the city behind it.

The twin angels simply turn their faces, raising both arms and gathering two spheres of silver light between their palms.

When something hits the water behind them, a wall of steam and earth shaking force grabbing their attention. That, and a horn. A low, long blast of sound that hangs in the air and makes teeth rattle. Followed by footsteps and a long, sharp grinding of metal upon pavement.

The angels turn, just as the boat horn sounds again. The steam and smoke part to reveal Unit-02 and Unit-00, striding down the open road of debris and wreckage. In the left hand of each giant there is the bow of an empty nautical transport, freshly retrieved from Vigilant's port. The metal scrapes and plates fall off the long, flat shapes of the boats, held together solely by inertia, superior construction, and the faint blue light permeating their superstructures from the built in mass effect engines.

The two Evangelions come to a halt come to a halt in front of the two angels. A single, synchronized sweep, and they bring up the boats like swords, in time with the faint chime from the onboard computers acknowledging that torque has been engaged.

With a single, mirrored swing, they shatter both boats over the angels' heads, before following through with a synchronized kick between its legs.

The two Evangelions act in concert, act in synch. Twin punches followed by a stamp to the ground to cause the street beneath to liquify. The angel looses its footing, swings out two perfectly timed blasts, which reflect off two raised AT fields.

The two Evangelions lunge through, spin, and drive two heels into opposite sides of the twin angels, slamming them into each other- and back into a single Angel. Which then lifts up into the air when the spinning drill rams into it from behind, shredding the twin core. A flash of light and the Angel explodes, a cross of light blasting into the air, silhouetting the form of Unit-05.

Save for the twin rivers if iridescent green that run down its cheeks as both pilot and Eva cry manly tears.

The light clears, and Unit-02 straightens up. It turns to the river of debris leading from the sea, and to the still intact rest of the city. Propping one fist on its hip, it raises its other arm and gives the watching turians a thumbs up.

"_Target eliminated!"_

* * *

...

* * *

Watching from the Entry Plug, Shinji lets out a long breath. The black rings rotate slowly around his chair, gloves fingers tapping along the butterfly controls. "Three...two..."

"_Shinji,"_ EDI chimes, "_Incoming communication from the Turian Councillor."_

He sighs, shoulders slumping. "Put him through, EDI."

* * *

...

* * *

Wrex grins, hands on his waist. Reaching out, he pats Misato on the back, the two watching the big screen above the bank of the Death Star's bridge. Behind the turtle alien, Mordin taps on his omnitool and Tevos holds her face in her hands. "_Ambassador Tevos, incoming communication from the Asari Councillor."_

Tevos responds with a weak sob. "Put her through."

"Good job, girls!" She flashes a V sign. "Now prepare for retrieval and _try not to piss off the rest of the galaxy!"_

* * *

...

* * *

Three Evangelion retrievals later. The catwalks next to Unit-05. Partially transparent drones hover around the centaur god machine, fixing plates back into place and taking care to not waken chthonic horrors.

"There is a _what_ on Unit-05?"

Mari shrugs. LCL still beading on her bright pink plugsuit and cat eared connectors on her head, she says the next words as if they are the most natural thing. "I had them install a rail gun launched fusion bomb on Gogoki."

Standing across from her, flanked by Asuka, Rei, and Misato, Shinji works his jaw. "For _what_ possible reason do you need a _fusion bomb?"_

Mari shrugs. "I figure..._lots_ of Angels." The four stare at her. A mix of disbelief, surprise, and trepidation. She rolls her eyes and clicks her tongue. "You just want to suck the joy out of everything."

Shinji rubs the bridge of his nose, a loud groan on his lips. "_Commander Ikari to CiC. Commander Ikari to CiC."_

Rei blinks, cocks her head and turns to the ceiling mounted speakers. A repair drone hovers past her, continuing onto Unit-00 in the distance. "When did he come aboard?"

"No." Shinji's shoulders slump. "No, I have a rank." He begins walking, followed by the others. They pass Unit-01, its yellow eyes following them.

Asuka stares at him, as if trying to somehow imagine him. With the pedobeard and the orange glasses. And the desperate air of _manchild_ hanging over him, but she fails. She fails hard. "Sounds legit," she murmurs. She tries to imagine the Angel War with Shinji- _Space Future Hero Shinji_- as the Commander of NERV. "If that's all I'm gonna head to my bunk-"

Hand up to his ear, Shinji rotates his left hand. The omnitool folds into existence around it, becoming the holographic face of Wrex. "Wrex, I'm on my way. What's wrong?"

The Krogan grins. They pass the restrained form of Kusanagi, Misato giving it an appreciative whistle. "_Ain't an emergency, kid. Just got off the line with the Migrant Fleet Councillor and we're about to hit the Widow relay."_

They enter the elevator, the doors closing behind them and the wall in front of Shinji turning transparent. He pulls on his helmet, the glass face shield turning partially transparent to display a pair of glowing blue eyes. "Got it, Wrex. We're heading to the transfer deck." He looks over his shoulder. "Put on your helmets if you want to come aboard."

The cab runs along the outer hull of the dreadnought, walls turning transparent to allow a view of the emerald and vermillion nebula past the walls. Clouds of dust and faint bits of rock and frozen gas pass them, bringing them closer and closer to the star at the center of the stellar formation.

"Come aboard what?" Misato asks.

The shape becomes more defined. A darkness surrounding the light. Like long petals of a great, colossal flower.

"That," Shinji answers. A smile creeps up the bottom of his mask.

The dreadnought clears the clouds, and they see it. A five pronged shape floating in the darkness, dwarfing the dreadnought. Dwarfing the ships around it, great vessels flitting around the station like cicadas in summer. Lights run along each arm- illumination of the arms, illumination from the cities running along them.

The ring at the center shines like a sun- haloed by the actual star the structure orbits, glowing with the impossibly large eezo generator built into it. Behind Shinji, his four guests find themselves completely lost for words. So, he gives them answers.

"Welcome to the Citadel."

* * *

...

* * *

A green circle made of light spins, folds into the wall, and the wall slides up, blasting them with fresh air. Face concealed by a red and black quarian helmet, Asuka blinks glowing eyes and taps her omnitool. Next to her, Rei looks out the doorway through glowing red eyes before Mari pushes past, the long skirt of her quarian encounter suit trailing like a cloak and the A-10 protrusions twitching like cat ears atop her pink helm.

She runs into Shinji's extended arm, and he shakes his head. The mouthpiece glows in time with Mari's tongue click.

"Outside of the Death Star, a few people even now what a human is," Shinji says, walking forward and leading them onto the well lit, white road overlooking a full lake, "We're Quarians. Or, at least, that's what everyone _thinks_ we are."

"Who's legs bend weird and who have too many fingers and toes." Asuka cocks an eyebrow beneath her helm, hand on her hip. "Just sayin' it like I see it, Third."

Shinji nods. "Cover story is that the odd...anatomy is part of a series of mutations which give us the ability to pilot the Eva. All in all, everyone buys it because they _need_ the Evas."

They walk over the lake, white roads intersecting beneath them. Peaking over the railing, Rei looks down and her eyes go wide, before she catches up to her brother. Boxy shuttles fly overhead, blue and silver cars flying past them on either side. A screen folds out high above, showing the attack on Vigilant.

"One thing to keep in mind is that everything here is _alien,"_ Shinji continues, "You've met Quarians, you've met turians-"

"The metal velociraptor people," Mari clarifies.

"Asari-"

"Blue skinned space babes," Mari adds.

Shinji glares at Mari, eyes narrowing. Her eyes only bounce up and down beneath her face plate. "And Krogans."

"Turtle people," Rei adds from Shinji's other side. He sighs and shakes his head. A skycar passes, stops, and a light flashes from the window before it speeds off.

"Right. Anyway, there's also-"

And Shinji walks into a tree trunk which had placed itself in front of him. He backs up to find the girls staring straight up at the gorilla which had somehow made its way off of Earth. Except, it is not a gorilla. It is twice as tall, its hide more like an elephant. Its face, rather than having a _mouth,_ has wrinkles and _tentacles_ hanging from it.

"_With barely contained awe,"_ it says in a slow, monotone drawl, "_I stand in the presence of the savior of my people."_

Rei blinks. Mari tilts her head. Asuka manages a small, flat, "_what."_

"I." Shinji balls his hand and coughs. "I saved their homeworld five years ago."

The beady eyes of the alien gorilla elephant octopus focus on Shinji. "_With revelation and arousal; May I touch you?"_

Shinji shrugs. "Maybe later?"

The _immense alien thingy_ turns and lumbers away. Mari taps her omnitool open and begins looking for possible saddles. Rei tilts her head and cocks an eyebrow. "The fuck?" Asuka asks.

Shinji rubs the back of his head, turning to them. "Right. So, just a fair warning, I am kind of recognizable here. Like I said, they were really, really losing the war with the Angels before I arrived and..." He blinks, staring at them. Notices that the three of them are staring up, behind him. "What are you looking at?"

Rei walks over, takes his shoulders, and turns him around. Shinji looks up and stares at the hovering, football field sized screen hovering over the web of white walkways that is focued on _him. _More particularly focused on him staring at the screen, with Rei's hands on his shoulders, and the massive letters reading '_Shinji'Ikari vas Death Star returns to the Citadel.'_

It is testament to his fortitude and five years of personal growth that he does not run away screaming. And rather, manages a small, squeaky, "_Crapbaskets."_

* * *

...

* * *

The Presidium. The heart of the Citadel. An expanse of white and silver beneath an artificial sky. Part center of government, part spiritual heart, part nature conservatory, it also serves as the final bastion should darkness consume the galaxy. The Angels are not the first apocalyptic threat to face the Council. Beneath the blue skies of the Presidium, overlooking the blue waters of its reservoir, a massive statue of a Krogan stands with its arm extended and its eyes towards the horizon.

Urdnot Wrex leans against the railing overlooking the statue, trying to place _who_ it's supposed to be a statue of. A cough and he inclines his head, turning to the silver skinned, blue marked turian standing with his hands clasped behind him. Wrex quickly makes mental checks- C-Sec uniform. Office grade.

"Yes?" he rumbles.

"Are you Urdnot Wrex?" the turian asks.

Wrex grunts an affirmative. Parking tickets, probably.

"My." The turian coughs. "My family- my immediate family- lives on Jhinuva."

"Yeah." Wrex lets one red eye wander. Scans the walkways for witnesses. "Yeah, we were there five months ago."

The turian nods. His mandibles click.

"You're welcome," Wrex adds. The turian half bows, lowering his head to the ancient Krogan, and quickly walks off.

Wrex rubs the back of his head, arms too short to reach the back of his hump. He turns to Mordin as the salarian walks out of the bathroom next to the walkway, and grunts. "Never get used to people thanking me," Wrex mutters.

"Too young for Rachni war victory celebrations," Mordin observes, "Then again, circumstances different. Krogan turned to expansionism to counter population numbers." A short, sharp intake of breath. "Did not end well."

Wrex grunts, leaning on the railing. "Yeah, well. Krogans doing what they do best. Saving everyone from monsters." He shakes his head. "What was it you said again? You think we're gonna cure ourselves in a hundred years?"

Mordin shakes his head. "Not cure. _Adapt." _He leans against the railing next to Wrex, looking out. Wrex follows his gaze and realizes Mordin looks towards the Krogan statue. "Krogan biology adaptable. Robust." The Salarian pauses. Taps long fingers on the railing. "STG, most likely, has had to introduce new strains of Genophage to Krogan populations to prevent adaptation."

Wrex glowers, teeth grinding. "What'll stop them this time?"

"You." Mordin reaches out, patting Wrex on the hump. "Krogan leading a fleet to save everyone from the Angels. Certain destruction of Galactic Civilization prevented by Krogan leader, but not only by Krogan race. Krogans showing they are true citizens of the galaxy." A pause. Mordin smiles a bit wider. "Also, plentiful blackmail material on Dalatrasses and STG ranking officers, with threat to publish Genophage modifications on Extranet if anything happens."

Wrex grunts and slaps Mordin on the back. Then grabs him by the collar when Mordin almost pitches over the rail. "That's why I like you, Mordin."

The doors behind them open. Two massive plates of white folding into an archway, and Wrex turns, reaching down and adjusting his codpiece. "Right. Took his damn time."

Mordin nods with a smile. Exiting the archway, a quarian woman in a black and red encounter suit walks out, white faceplate hiding her features and her hipskirt dragging behind her. "Councillor Ium'Pallim vas QwibQwib will see you now, Admiral Wrex."

Mordin grins, nodding. Wrex grunts, adjusting his belt. Walking behind the woman, Wrex's eyes wander downwards. He glances to the side and sees Mordin staring as well, cocking a scaled eyebrow. The salarian shrugs, and they walk along in silence down a white corridor that opens up into a small arboretum with buzzing insects and alien vines along the walls, which lead to a half circle desk and several floating computer screens.

They spread out, framing the desk, and reveal a gray skinned quarian with a neatly trimmed mop of obsidian cords hanging from his wrinkled face.

"Wrex," he states, in an accented and gravel voice, "Does the term _political shitstorm_ mean anything to you?"

The old krogan shrugs. The quarian woman eases to the side, sashaying back to the other desk and flowing into her seat. "Should it?" Wrex asks, and snaps his fingers, "Oh, yeah. The girls."

"Who destroyed two transport haulers, after _dragging_ them across Vigilant." Ium'Pallim blinks. "Girls. Then your mission was successful?" Wrex nods. "How many Evangelions are currently aboard the ship?"

Wrex raises a finger with a toothy grin, throwing an arm around Mordin's shoulders. "Now, Councillor. What's more important? The fact that we have _five_ Evangelions, or the fact that we _made a deal with NERV?"_

* * *

...

* * *

Vessae stands, straight and still, in an observation booth overlooking the flower structure hanging in the plume of the nebula. She's dressed in an encounter suit, black and highlighted with gold, her two peripheral eyes closed to give the illusion of normality, her own _self_ having modified itself to bend her legs like a normal quarian.

"The Citadel was a myth when I was a child. Mother spoke of its spires and the works of the ancient engineers who wrought it." A three fingered hand presses on glass. She drinks in memories of the fingerprints upon it. "I realize she spoke in myths and legends. She used our tales of creation to excuse that we had no knowledge of its origins. Where she claimed our gods made the Relays and the Citadel, it was still an excuse for ignorance."

She turns to her watcher, the young man who had been assigned towards her safety. Kensuke Aida blinks, shrugs, and fixes his helmet back on. The purple plate turns semi transparent and the mouthpiece of the quarian helmet glows. "Oh...kay."

She tilts her head. Behind her, the lights of the Citadel flicker from the constant, relentless traffic. "I can see aspects of your soul. You have the touch of humanity's progenitor upon you."

Kensuke balls his hand and the light flickers with his cough. "Aren't you...ah...little young to know that?"

One glowing eye narrows. "There was lipstick smudged on your cheek. I recognize the color that Rei uses."

Kensuke shifts side to side. Vessae looks up at him, with the intensity and judgement of a six year old girl, which in the back of his mind proves to him the simple truth that all life in the universe can produce creepy children.

"So," he says, "Shinji asked me to look after you while he's aboard the Citadel."

She turns back to the station. Legend. Myth. "I can look after myself."

Kensuke sighs, trotting over and standing next to her. "Well, I could ask you to look after me."

A shuttle passes the window, Kensuke's gaze trailing after the spacecraft. "A worthy challenge," Vessae intones, "After all, you let Rei feed on your soul."

He turns to her. Silent, for a long moment. "Wait is that what she's doing?"

Vessae giggles. Whether it is a sinister giggle- as Kensuke is used to from his best friend's little sister- or the giggle of a normal child- which he has little experience with- he is uncertain. Instead, he simply rolls back and forth on his heels.

"So," Vessae says, "If you do what I say, I'm going to make you a giant robot pilot."

"Sold."

* * *

...

* * *

In theory, Lia was supposed to be in the lead. As someone who was actually quarian, and as well as someone who had spent time on the Citadel in the past, she was a natural choice for making sure the other pilots didn't find trouble when Shinji was called off to the Embassies.

This idea hinged on Asuka allowing herself to be lead around, however.

The white walls of the Presidium give way to gunmetal gray and black corridors of the Markets. "Don't buy any food," Lia says, "They'll sell you quarian food. Shinji tried it once and he had to get his stomach pumped."

Rei blinks. Mari cocks her head. Walking next to her rival-if-they-were-competing, Asuka turns and walks backwards, arms folded. "Quarians are dextro-amino acid, we're levo-amino acid," she explains, ducking underneath a passing Elcor and jabbing a thumb at food stands along the windowed corridor, "'Cept for Rei. Not sure what you can eat."

"I usually subsist on Kensuke's soul." Rei smirks beneath her helmet.

Lia rolls her eyes. "Anyway, keep close to me," she says with a sigh, grabbing Asuka by the arm and turning her around, "This isn't a pilgrimage. We're in one of the safer parts but the Citadel has places you don't want to go. It has places _Wrex_ doesn't want to go."

Asuka shrugs. The four pass a walkway and two turians talking shop, passing underneath a bridge with large neon signs for something called 'fish-dog food shack'. "How are we reading these?"

"Omnitool has a built in translator," Lia explains, "This way. I need to get a patch for my scanning program."

She yanks Asuka along, Rei and Mari following. Walking towards a row of gaudily decorated shops, Lia pulls Asuka through the open door, opening her mouth to speak.

"_I'm Shinji Ikari and this is my favorite store on the Citadel."_

Asuka looks up. Eyes go wide, then narrow.

She works her arm free, backs out of the store. Then walks in again.

"_I'm Shinji Ikari and this is my favorite store on the Citadel."_

"The fuck is this?" she breathes.

Lia shrugs. "Maintenance doesn't pay for itself."

* * *

...

* * *

Through the windows of the chamber, he can see the dead star that holds the galaxy together. All the strands of fate, of matter, of light and heat, all pulled into this careful dance by the corpse of an ancient and unknowable light. He would contemplate it for days, weeks. Forgetting to eat, forgetting to sleep.

Wondering if this was the star the ancient gods of this galaxy once lived in the light of. If his god chose this location in effigy, in worship, in mockery of the ancient fore bearers who created him.

Sitting with legs crossed, cords of black hang in the reduced gravity around his jaw. He does not turn to the sound of the door open, or the many legs skittering upon the stone floor. In the darkness, violet eyes open and briefly flicker with gold. "You've come for me?" he asks.

His voice cracks from years of silence. For words are the lowest form of communication his master employs. Rotating in the darkness, his hands on his knees, he turns to face the shifting and chitinous form of the four eyed lord of his domain. It regards him with four golden eyes and the mandibles click together.

The air shifts and it speaks with thunder.

**"The Harvest has begun."**

A slow breath from old, damaged lungs. "I see. Who is your vanguard?"

Mandibles click. The unnatural, sloped head shifts. "**Nazara."**

He nods and two toed feet touch the warm stone. "Yes. What of the Geth?"

"**The Geth have rejected our overtures. They cling to the archaic notion of peace with the Creators. They stand against us."**

"Our children remain as ever fools." He cracks his knuckles and gold plays over his fingers. "Then your Collectors shall follow me instead. Our agreement stands?"

It seems to grow in front of him. The presence within it makes its inadequate corporeal form strain, but it does not break. "**Open the Citadel for us, and your people shall live as our heralds. Rannoch returned to you, and the Angel that stole your homeworld will die by our hands."**

He nods. Weight of years, weight of death pulls down his shoulders. "**Honor your agreement, Vaum'Zorah,"** the thunder speaks, "**And we shall honor ours."**

A slow, rattled exhalation. Violet eyes open and he nods. "Of course, Harbinger. Where do I go?"

* * *

...

* * *

He would normally have thought of the Asari to his right as a mix of Fai and Ambassador Tevos, with Wrex's voice.

But he's had Earth on his mind again. Ever since they stumbled their way back to the world of his birth and shitty childhood, he's had Earth on his mind. So now he thinks the Asari in the slow-ass elevator next to him has Ritsuko's snarkiness, Misato's blatantness, and his father's voice.

"...so now the Matriarch's are all 'you were right, you were right, how can we grovel to you,' and I tell them, 'make me an admiral and give me a harem.'"

The asari waggles an eyebrow, leaning in next to him. He tries to shuffle to his side, and presses up against the quarian woman on his other side. Glancing to her, eyes heavy with an apology, he catches her eyes moving up and down.

"Just kidding about the harem. Nezzie'd have first dibs anyway." Floors pass on the sides of the transparent tube, rising from white platforms and walkways to the crystal spires of the embassies. Doors ding and the glass slides open in front. "My floor, anyway."

The asari walks out, and of course she rocks her hips side to side as she does so. Shinji shuffles to the side, eyes following the blue skinned woman, and glances to the quarian. Her eyes snap back into place, and a silent agreement is made between them to not discuss what they were both watching.

Glancing again at the quarian, he tries to infer. The red lining of her encounter suit probably mean embassy staff. Probably high up in the social heirarchy, he guesses, from the...shape. And his mind wanders once again. Reminds him of Misato. Reminds him of Rei. Reminds himself that he knew _them_ for a period of months, and he should be more reminded of _Fai._

He taps a foot, eyes glancing side to side. On one hand, he wishes he got Touji to come along. On the other hand, he only knew Touji for _five months,_ and he talks about personal problems with _Kenn'Reegar,_ and usually over some form of alcohol that's strong enough for them _both_ to get drunk from it.

Then there is the hanar group hug of his romantic life- which is another euphemism that he would never have picked up on Earth. Rubbing the back of his neck, he lets out a long breath. _Why_ does he have any lingering feelings fro the redhead? He's known Lia for five and a half years- she helped pull him out of the entry plug. She was the one who persuaded _Wrex_ to stay. Asuka may have been the first girl he kissed, but Lia was the first girl he made out with- which lead to them both getting sick but that's not something either of them regret.

Then there's _biology._ He's reasonably sure tab A goes into slot B. Not that they could actually _make_ anything. The suit tells him that internal temperature has risen and his hormones have spiked just thinking about it, and he mentally tells it to shove it. But back when Earth was an impossibility, he kept telling himself it wasn't a _thing_ they had to worry about if they ever got to the point where they were thinking about it. Because the entire war with the Angels have left enough kids without parents that he'd be more than willing to at very least follow Wrex's example and give them a better childhood than he ever did.

Floors tick by. Hell, he's still fixated on Earth. Not that he regrets getting back there, but he was _used_ to this. Used to Lia and him dancing around their relationship, used to Fai teasing her daughter about Shinji being 'the son-in-law she wants, the son she wishes she had, and if neither of those pan out she's still in the market.' Used to his mother being...her. And used to being a member of the Fleet. Not a quarian, not a human, but having someplace to _belong._

Then the door rings and the quarian walks out, swaying her hips side to side. A note dings on his omnitool, and he flicks his finger to bring it up. And finds it's an address. Which he quickly closes. The door closes and floors whisk by.

Shinji rolls his shoulders and groans. "I think I need an adult."

Behind him, the massive bulk shifts. "_Seductively; I am an adult."_

She turns to the beady eyes of the elcor, and turns back to the elevator console.

**End Chapter 4**


End file.
